Lizzie
by BorealOwl
Summary: I always thought Adam would make a good father so I gave him a daughter, Lizzie. This is not to canon, just a what if. Discipline of children ahead and spanking is a possibility, be forewarned and stop reading if this is not for you. (Bonanza Fiction)
1. Mr Brown's arrival

"He's here!" Lizzie yelled, jumping away from the window. Then seeing her grandpa's frown at her yelling in the house, she said a little more quietly, "He's here." She peered around the corner at her grandpa who was sitting at the desk doing paperwork. She ducked her head, keeping her eyes down, trying to gauge if she was in trouble.

Ben smiled and stood up. "I believe you are right. Let's go meet him." Ben reached out his hand and took his granddaughter's small one in his and they walked to the door. Lizzie looked up and smiled a relieved smile: she wasn't in trouble.

They walked outside just as Joshua Brown swung down from his saddle. "Ben," the gray haired man in the brown suit and tattered hat said. "How are you old friend?" He extended his hand to Ben grabbing it in a firm handshake. They shook and smiled at each other, nodding.

"Mr. Brown, I'm Adam Cartwright, Ben's oldest son." Adam said as he walked over from the barn, extending his hand.

"And this is my granddaughter, Lizzie." Ben pushed Lizzie forward a little. "You'll meet my two other sons, Hoss and Joe later this evening. Come inside. Where are your daughter and granddaughter? I thought they would be coming with you?" Ben inquired.

"They will be coming on the stage tomorrow. Women tend to need more things than one horse can carry." Joshua laughed. Ben and Adam joined him in the laughter.

Ben clapped Joshua on the shoulder and led him to the house.

Adam took the reins of the horse that Joshua had ridden in on in one hand and took Lizzie's in the other. "Come on, let's take care of the horse."

Lizzie smiled, horses, all horses, were her favorite thing. She was always glad to be able to help with a new horse. She looked longingly at the Palomino in the corral out front. She had been firmly warned to stay away from that horse until her Papa was sure of its temperament. She just knew he was gentle and would be a fine horse, but her Papa wasn't sure and that meant the corral was off limits. Lizzie was not happy about that at all.

Upon coming into the house after caring for the horse, Joshua and Ben looked up. Adam took a seat on chair near the fireplace and Lizzie promptly climbed up into his lap.

"My granddaughter, Sally, is just about your age, Lizzie. I think you and she will have a good time together." He smiled at the little girl sitting in her father's, Adam's, lap.

"I hope so." Lizzie said politely.

"You go play." Adam said and he put her on her feet. "Stay within calling distance and come in for dinner."

"Whose call?" She asked, smiling. "Yours or Grandpa's?" She ran out the door laughing, dodging away from Adam's grabbing hands.

"She's adorable, Adam. Where is her mother?"

"Sarah died from scarlet fever four years ago. Lizzie was only four at the time. I am not sure what I would have done if it hadn't been that for that little girl." Adam said with just a little sadness as he glanced at the door Lizzie had just gone through.

"What did she mean asking about whose call she should hear?" Joshua said, changing the subject.

"She was teasing about Pa's…" Adam glanced up at his father "ah, tendency to, at times…uh….speak rather forcefully." Adam shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Still a bellower, huh, Ben?" Joshua asked with a grin spreading across his face.

"I do not bellow!" Ben growled, but he too had a smile upon his face.

"Uh, yes, Pa, you do." Adam teased with a smile on his face.

* * *

><p>"No, thank you," said Lizzie.<p>

They had all gathered around the dinner table that night and Adam had put two Brussels sprouts on Lizzie's plate."

"Yes," Adam said.

"But I don't want or like Brussels sprouts." Lizzie said with a slight whine in her voice.

"I want you to eat them anyway. You are going to have many times in your life when you are going to have to do things you don't want to do, so you might as well learn how to do that now. Eat them first and get it over with; there are only two." Adam said.

Lizzie screwed up her face in a look of contempt and sighed. Joshua found himself tensing for the temper tantrum that he was sure was coming. His own granddaughter would be beside herself, if she were made to eat something she didn't want. Well, if he was totally honest with himself, she would throw a fit about being made to do anything she didn't want to do.

"Yes, eat them first. Don't do what your father did and save them until the end of the meal and then try to sneak them off your plate." Ben said, raising his eyebrows and looking pointedly at Adam.

"You did that?" Lizzie looked at her father with wide eyes. She had a hard time imaging him as a little boy and trying to get away with something. He always seemed to do the right thing.

"I tried, but I didn't get away with it." Adam said with embarrassment. He glanced around the table and tried not to respond to Joe's huge grin.

"What happened?"

"The same thing that will happen to you if you don't eat everything: no dessert. Now eat." Adam said forcefully pointing at her plate.

Lizzie knew there were five sets of eyes on her now and trying to sneak them off her plate would be impossible, so she cut one in half and put it in her mouth, closing her eyes and chewing on one side, trying to get it down as quickly as possible. Joshua found that he had a death grip on his fork and slowly relaxed his hand when the expected tantrum didn't come. He found himself wishing his own granddaughter was as easy to deal with over things she didn't want to do.

"I don't like Brussels sprouts!" She said after swallowing.

"Noted." Adam said turning back to his own meal.

"You know, Lizzie," said Ben. "I can remember spending time with the Indians eating things like bear fat and deer liver. I was never so glad that my parents had made me eat everything put before me than I was at that time." He grinned and glanced around the table. "It would have been disrespectful to refuse. Let me tell you, bear fat is horrible, far worse than Brussels sprouts."

Lizzie didn't say it as she chewed, but she wasn't so sure that anything was worse than what she had in her mouth.

Soon the conversation turned back to happenings at the ranch and Joshua told them stories of the adventures he and Ben had had together. Lizzie managed to eat both of the Brussels sprouts and found that eating the rest of the meal took the horrible taste away. She was allowed her chocolate cake and was just a little proud of herself for having earned it by eating those horrible green things. The cake tasted especially good that night.

After the meal, the men moved off to find seats near the fire leaving Lizzie to one of her chores: clearing the table. She usually didn't mind it since everybody usually went off to do their own chores, but tonight, since company was coming, everybody else had managed to get their chores done before dinner. Since clearing the table couldn't be done until after dinner she felt a little resentful. Not only that, but there were more dishes than usual: there was an extra person and Hop Sing had made more than was normal. A scowl was forming on her face and her temper was about to get the best of her when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll help you clear tonight." Her Uncle Joe said.

"Thanks, Uncle Joe." She looked up at him with the scowl still on her face.

"Happy to do it," he whispered. "It's not really fair that you have to work while everybody else is taking it easy." He nudged her with his hip and smiled at her.

Lizzie loved her Uncle Joe and she realized that he had probably seen the storm brewing on her face. Her temper calmed as they quickly cleared the table and she realized that her Uncle Joe had kept her from getting in trouble with her Papa.

After the table was cleared, Lizzie whispered to her Uncle, "Thanks, Uncle Joe." And they both knew it was for keeping her out of trouble as much as it was for helping clear the table.

Joe nudged her again with his hip, "Anytime." He smiled down at her.

Lizzie and Joe joined the group near the fireplace with Joe sitting on the arm of the couch and Lizzie worming her way into Adam's lap. She sat on his knee and settled her head against his chest, listening to his heart beat and slow breathing.

The warm fire and the quiet conversation soon had Lizzie nodding off.

"Bedtime." Adam said quietly, standing up with Lizzie in his arms.

"It's too early." Lizzie mumbled.

"You are falling asleep right here in my lap. I'll tell you what, I'll read you a longer story tonight since you are going to bed earlier."

"Okay," Lizzie knew better than to argue. Her Papa didn't like her to argue about things like bedtimes and when she did, it never ended well for her.

Joe and Hoss both got up too and mentioned heading to town, leaving Joshua and Ben alone each staring at the fire.

"You have fine sons, Ben, and you granddaughter is charming."

"Thank you, I am very proud of them all."

TBC


	2. Meeting the stage

"Morning, morning, morning!" Lizzie jumped off the last step and twirled towards the table. She performed her morning ritual of making sure everyone got a kiss: Papa, Uncle Hoss, Grandpa and Uncle Joe.

As she took her place, she said, "Good morning, Mr. Brown. Did you sleep well? Did you hear the mockingbirds this morning?"

"Yes, to both questions, thank you for asking, Lizzie." Said Joshua.

"I think I like the mockingbirds best. They have lots of pretty songs."

Adam smiled at his daughter, lifting his eyebrows to let her know he was proud of her. He passed her a plate with pancakes on it. Lizzie smiled back at him and started eating.

"Today is going to be a good day." Lizzie thought. "Grandpa had told her she was going to get to go to town and meet the stage. She had seen the stage arrive a lot of times, but she had never met the stage when someone was coming to the Ponderosa. It made it much more exciting to be meeting someone."

Hoss and Joe were the first to finish their breakfasts and they arose from the table to get to their chores. Ben and Joshua got up to catch up on mutual acquaintances on the couch, leaving Lizzie and Adam at the table. Lizzie finished her breakfast and started to clear the dishes off the table.

"I hate chores!" She said loudly. She kept stacking the dishes but looked at her papa.

Adam stood. "I hate chores too!" he said, matching her tone and stomping his foot. He walked around the table and kissed Lizzie on the top of the head. "When you get done in here, come out to the barn and help me." He turned and head to the door, taking his hat off the cabinet near the door.

"Yes, Papa." Lizzie said as she carried the first stack of dishes out to Hop Sing. When she had finished clearing everything, she skipped over to the door and out.

"Adam and Lizzie are quite a pair, aren't they?' Ben asked as he watched his granddaughter leave.

"Adam seems to dote on her. It is a wonder she isn't spoiled rotten," said Joshua.

"Well, he gives her a little more leeway than I ever gave my boys, but then she is living in a house, not on the trail like I was with Adam and Hoss. She is sweet natured and well-behaved for the most part. Adam can come down on her when he needs to, thankfully that isn't too often. I am not sure her uncles and her old grandpa could take it." He pondered that thought a little before rousing himself.

"Well, if we are going to meet the morning stage we need to get busy." Ben said as he stood.

Hoss had harnessed the horses to the buggy and had tied it up to the front hitching rail before he and Joe had headed out to ride the fence line.

Ben and Joshua were climbing up into the buggy as Lizzie ran out of the barn with her arms out to be lifted up. Adam followed her out of the barn. Ben stepped down to pick her up and settled her in the back seat.

"Where are you going little miss?" Adam asked, crossing his arms.

"To town to meet the stage. Grandpa said I could."

"Well, I think that there are going to be too many people and things in the buggy for there to be room for you, plus, I think there are chores that haven't been done yet."

"Well, that's that," said Ben. "Papa says no." Ben reached in and lifted Lizzie back out of the buggy. "I'm sorry, Adam, I should have asked you first before telling Lizzie she could go."

Ben tried to defer to Adam when it came to raising Lizzie. Lizzie was Adam's child and Ben felt she should be raised as Adam saw fit.

"That's alright, Pa. I just don't think there will be room for Lizzie in addition to all the luggage that Mr. Brown has indicated his daughter and granddaughter will be bringing."

Lizzie crossed her arms and started to pout. "Grandpa said I could go. I want to go. I never get to meet the stage." She stamped her foot and folded her arms again.

Joshua felt himself tense again. He knew that Lizzie was too good to be true. Here was the temper tantrum he had been expecting. He steeled himself waiting for the screaming and writhing to begin. No child was as well behaved as this one.

Ben crouched down to look Lizzie in the face. She had her arms crossed tightly and her chin down on her chest. He reached out to touch her, but she twisted her body away.

"I'm sorry, Lizzie, but your papa's right. I shouldn't have said you could go. There won't be enough room for you and all the luggage too." Ben spoke gently. He didn't like disappointing his granddaughter.

"Papa and I can go on his horse." She looked up hopefully at her father.

"Uh, uh. We have things to do around here and you are just going to have to accept that you aren't going."

"I never get to meet the stage."

"You see the stage come in all the time." Adam was beginning to lose patience.

"But not when there are people that we are waiting for." She stomped her foot again and stuck her lip out farther.

"You are not going." Adam said firmly. "Go on, Pa. We'll be fine here."

Ben got back up in the buggy and flicked the reins looking back at his granddaughter sadly.

"You and I, Miss Elizabeth, need to have a talk in the house about tantrums." He took her hand and began to lead her to the house.

"What will Adam do, Ben?" Joshua turned to watch Adam and Lizzie walking up the steps. He was a little surprised at what constituted a tantrum in the Cartwright household.

"Oh, I expect he'll scold her and maybe make her stand in the corner. She's disappointed; Adam knows that. She's just a little girl. She needs to learn how to handle disappointment, although I do feel a little guilty telling her she could go and then having Adam say no. I don't like him coming off as the bad guy. I don't think he'll be too hard on her over the tantrum."

"That was a tantrum?" Joshua asked. "If that was a tantrum, I don't know what it is that my granddaughter does. Sally throws herself on the floor, crying and screaming. I would be thrilled if her tantrums were just crossed arms, pouts and stomping feet."

Ben didn't know what to say to that. So, he just clucked to the horses and said, "Yid up."

Adam walked his daughter straight to the corner by the desk.

"You need to get a hold of your temper, Elizabeth." He said as he took a seat in the chair. "I know you wanted to go to town, but there just wasn't room."

Lizzie started to answer, but Adam cut her off. "I suggest you think very carefully before you say anything that is going to get you into more trouble."

Adam watched her clenched fists and her rigid back and knew that if he let her talk she was going to end up over his knee and he would just as soon avoid that all together if it was possible. The few times he had ended up having to spank her had been hard on both of them. After about ten minutes in the corner, Adam saw the rigidity of her body start to lessen and he saw her hands unclench.

"Are you in control of your temper, Lizzie?" He asked firmly.

"Yes, Papa."

"Are you going to stop pouting?"

"Yes, Papa."

"Good, then come over here."

Lizzie turned and walked slowly over to where Adam was seated. Adam reached out and stroked her hair.

"I am sorry that you didn't get to go to town and meet the stage. I know that would have been exciting for you. It is alright to be upset about that, but it is not alright to pitch a fit to try to get your way. The next time someone comes to visit, we'll try to make sure you get to go and meet the stage. But if that doesn't happen, I don't want a repeat of what just happened out in the yard." Adam paused.

"When have you ever gotten what you wanted by pouting and stomping your foot?" Adam waited for a response.

"When, Elizabeth?" He asked more firmly when she didn't answer right away.

"Never…" Lizzie said in a whisper. She kept her chin down on her chest.

"Right, never, so today had better be your last tantrum or you and I are going to have a problem."

"Yes, Papa. I'm sorry. I just wanted to go and Grandpa said I could and I was excited and then you said no." Lizzie started crying and the words just tumbled out. She didn't like her Papa angry with her and she felt a little overwhelmed.

Adam swept Lizzie up in his arms and held her, rocking her. "I know, Lizzie, you were angry and disappointed."

"I'm sorry. I promise I won't have a tantrum ever again." Lizzie cried, as she promised fervently.

"I believe you and you're forgiven." Adam continued to hold her until the tears had stopped. He put her back on her feet and pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe off her face. "Do you think you can finish up your chores?"

Lizzie nodded.

"Go wash your face and finish your chores and then go play. I'll call you when it's time for you to get ready for our company."

Lizzie nodded again.

"Love you, Liz." Adam said softly.

Lizzie wrapped her arms around Adam's neck and gave him a hard hug, one which he returned, then she went out the front door.

Adam sat for a minute, looking at the closed door before getting up himself to get the rest of his chores done.

TBC


	3. Sally's arrival

Adam breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the buggy come into the yard filled to the gills with trunks and cases. At the best of times Adam didn't deal well with being wrong. It would have been especially difficult to be wrong in this circumstance since he had had to say no to Lizzie. He was especially pleased to be right in this case. He glanced down at Lizzie and saw that she had realized he had been right too.

As the buggy stopped, Adam stepped up to pull a few small trunks from the side of the rear seat and reached a hand up to the plain looking woman who was sitting there. She was dressed in pale gray and had her brown hair in a loose bun on her head. Adam smiled up at her as he helped her down.

"Welcome to the Ponderosa. I'm Adam." He said politely.

"Ruth, Ruth Brown." She replied quietly. She dropped his hand and stepped past him to look around.

A brown haired girl with two braids and a blue check dress held out her arms to Adam.

"You must be Sally," he said.

Sally nodded.

"Well, I am pleased to meet you, Sally. I'm Adam."

"Hello." Sally said looking past him at the house. "Is that your house?"

"It is; we call it The Ponderosa."

"Hmmm."

"Those your horses?"

"They are. Do you like horses? Maybe Lizzie and I can take your riding later. This is my daughter, Lizzie." Adam put his arm around his daughter.

"Hello…" said Lizzie.

Sally didn't answer as she walked towards the corral, enthralled by the horses.

Adam pushed Lizzie towards her and then turned to unload the rest of the baggage.

"Do you like horses?" Lizzie asked. "Have you ever ridden?"

"A couple of times. I was told I'm a very good rider."

"Oh,"

Lizzie had never been told she was a good rider. Her father and her uncles had been teaching her, but there were still a lot of things that she did wrong. The worst of which was she moved around too much in the saddle when the horse moved much faster than a slow trot. Everyone had told her that was just about practice and learning to use her legs. She had finally learned to keep her heels down and she wasn't as tense as she used to be when she was riding, but it still seemed like it was going to be a long time before she was called "good".

Lizzie loved horses though and she had been promised one of her very own once she had learned the basics of riding. She had been raised around horses so she was very good at reading their reactions and she knew how to approach a horse and keep it calm, but since she had only been riding for a short time, she still had a lot to learn.

Lizzie was her father's daughter and had inherited Adam's quick temper. She felt a flare of temper rise up that she had not been allowed to ride until recently. Her family should have let her ride sooner, then she would be good too. She stomped her foot and then quickly glanced around to be sure no one had seen her. She tried never to get in trouble for the same thing twice in one day. She did not want to see what her papa had meant by "a problem". Lizzie was relieved to see that all the adults had gone into the house.

Sally moved closer to the pen that contained the Palomino.

"We have to stay arm's length away from that horse," said Lizzie. "Come on, I can show you horses that we can get close to." She started to walk towards the barn.

"What do you mean arm's length?"

"It means that if you can touch the pen, you're too close."

"That's a stupid rule," grumbled Sally.

Lizzie agreed, especially with this horse, but hearing Sally complain about her papa's rules irritated her.

"You're not supposed to get close 'cause he might hurt you." Sally said tightly. "Come on let me show you the horses in the barn."

They were just walking towards the barn, when Lizzie heard her father calling them to come in the house. Lizzie turned to mind him, but Sally kept walking towards the barn.

"Papa said we have to come in, " she said turning slightly.

"They'll wait," said Sally.

Lizzie walked over to take Sally's hand to try and get her to come into the house. "I'm not supposed to keep people waiting. We can come back out later."

Sally yanked her hand out of Lizzie's and kept walking.

Lizzie turned to see her father walking across the yard to them.

"Didn't you hear me calling?" He asked.

"Yes, but Sally…" Lizzie gestured towards Sally who was still walking towards the barn.

"You run inside. I'll get Sally."

Adam walked over to Sally and placing a hand on her shoulder, he said, "Time to come in Hon, Hop Sing has made lunch. You must be hungry after your long trip."

"I want to see the horses." Sally said gritting her teeth and pulling her shoulder from under Adam's hand.

"After lunch, come on in now." Adam placed himself between Sally and the barn door crossing his arms.

Adam watched Sally thinking. He could see her trying to figure out how to get past him and how to get her way. He just stood there with his legs apart and his arms crossed, smiling.

"Fine," she finally said and turned to go.

As soon as Adam moved to follow, Sally turned and ran towards the barn door.

"Ah, ah, ah," Adam said. He swung her up as she tried to run past him and threw her over his shoulder, bouncing her as he ran towards the house. Lizzie loved it when he did that and she always burst into giggles. Sally just hung limp as she got carried into the house. Adam continued the bouncing carry until he got her to the dining room table at which everyone was already seated. He gently set her down in the open seat, holding her eye for a long moment, then turned to sit down.

"Sorry," Adam said with a smile. "We were unexpectedly delayed."

Sally glared at Adam, but stayed in the seat. Adam returned the glare with an even bigger smile.


	4. Wading

No one said anything as Adam took his seat, but all eyes were on him.

Finally, Ben broke the silence with a "Let's eat."

Lunch was a series of complaints: I don't like that…those pieces are too small…I said triangles not squares.

Lizzie ate her lunch quietly and thought about Brussels sprouts. She couldn't imagine what her papa or her grandpa or uncles for that matter would do if she was so difficult. She knew she would not have been allowed to spend 20 minutes complaining… especially as a guest in someone else's home. Papa always said you had to be extra polite when you were in someone's home so that they would want to ask you back to visit.

In between Sally's complaints and Ruth and Joshua trying to make her happy, they had discussed their plans for the rest of the day. Ruth wanted to rest a little after the trip and Joshua and Ben were going to take a ride out to see some nearby pastureland. Adam had suggested a horseback ride with the girls:

"We can ride over to the pond and go wading."

"Eww," said Sally.

"I love wading," said Lizzie in a quiet voice.

"I know you do my little duckling," teased Adam. "You don't have to wade if you don't want to Sally, there are plenty of trees around and you can rest in the shade. Wouldn't you like to go riding?"

"I guess."

"Good."

After lunch the adults continued to talk at the table. Lizzie watched Sally get up and leave the table, Lizzie wanted to ask to leave the table too, but she never heard a break in the conversation when she could ask permission. She knew better than to interrupt. The longer the adults talked, the more bored she got. She finally started swinging her legs, hooking her right toe around the chair leg on every swing, and then letting it fly out. Adam put his hand on her leg to still the kicking and that worked for a while, but the boredom soon had her swinging her legs again.

Adam finally leaned over and whispered, "Stop fidgeting and sit still."

"Please may I leave the table?" Lizzie whispered back.

Lizzie got a short nod and she scooted quickly out of her seat. She wandered over to the sofa and picked up the book that was lying there before heading upstairs to her room. She lied down on her bed and leafed through the pages trying to find her place. When she finally located it, Lizzie arranged her pillows and settled in to her story.

Fifteen minutes later, Adam came upstairs to find Lizzie still ensconced in the book.

"Honey, do you still want to go riding?" Adam asked.

Lizzie was too focused on her story to her him talking to her.

Adam walked over, sat on the bed, putting his hand on her knee and said, "Honey?" He shook her knee slightly.

"Oh, sorry Papa. I didn't hear you."

"What are you reading?"

Lizzie held up the book so that he could read the title.

"Ah, fairy tales…I read those myself when I was your age. Do you think you can leave the royalty long enough to come riding?"

"Always!"

"Good, the table still needs to be cleared and then we will away, fair princess." Adam stood and bowed.

"Princesses don't clear tables." Lizzie giggled. "They have servants for that."

"Fair lady, I fear all the servants remain at the castle, afar, and thou must sully thy hands with manual labor for the good of the kingdom. Canst thou make such a sacrifice?" Adam's voice took on a theatrical tone and he bowed yet again.

"For the good of the kingdom, I shall make the sacrifice.' Lizzie giggled again.

"Thou art truly a maiden fair." Adam leaned in, tickled Lizzie and then kissed her on the top of the head. "When thou hast finished thy duties, please join me in the stable where I will await thee with thy valiant steed."

Lizzie climbed down off the bed and curtsied at Adam before heading downstairs. Adam returned her curtsey with a bow, following her down the stairs and then headed outside to saddle the horses.

When Lizzie was finished with the dishes, she went outside to find Adam standing nearby the already saddled horses and Sally sitting on the front porch.

"Ah, the princess arrives." Adam held out his arm towards Lizzie.

"Princess, she's not a princess. She's just a girl." Sally sneered.

Adam smiled at her and said, "Clearly you are not well versed in princess lore. The princess is always the one that is least suspect. Yon girl is kind, thoughtful, intelligent, and has a pleasant temperament. If not yet a princess, that is a station she will surely one day attain."

Lizzie smiled when she heard her father talking about her. She looked at Sally and saw her mean look, but she didn't care. Her papa thought she was a princess and Sally's opinion really didn't matter. So, Lizzie looked Sally right in the eye and smiled her biggest smile. It wasn't returned.

"Have you ever ridden, Sally?" Adam asked.

"Yes, people tell me I'm very good."

"Good, then let me help you mount up."

When Sally walked over to the right side of the horse to mount up, Adam suspected that the amount of riding she had done was extremely limited. He was glad that he had brought out the old gray for her. Samson was an older horse and fairly docile, so he would accept an inexperienced rider without too much fuss. He rarely got excited enough about anything to move faster than a quick walk. Adam trusted that whatever experience level Sally had with riding, Samson would be okay with her and not run off if she did something unpredictable. Adam put his hands on Sally's shoulders and walked her around to Samson's left side. After getting Sally settled in the saddle and making sure she was holding the reins properly, he turned to Lizzie. She was standing on Blaze's left side softly stroking his neck and whispering quietly to him.

Adam leaned down and whispered, "You are going to be quite a horsewoman my lady."

Lizzie felt a bit of twinge of anger at that comment. She knew she wasn't a good rider like Sally, but she resented being reminded of it. Lizzie had been talking to Blaze and hadn't seen Sally try to mount on the wrong side.

Adam felt Lizzie stiffen in his arms for a minute as he helped her up. He wondered at what had upset her, but once she was mounted, she seemed okay, so he let it pass.

As they rode to the pond Adam kept a steady eye on Sally. She clearly had ridden before, but she had just as clearly never been instructed in how to make a horse pick up its pace or respond to the rein commands. Adam smiled to himself as he watched Samson ignore all of Sally's movements, rein flicking and heel kicking. He just plodded along steadily following Blaze.

Once they arrived at the pond, Adam and Lizzie were off their horses and had their boots and socks off quickly. Adam finally helped Sally down when she didn't get down herself.

He squatted down to look her in the eye. "You can come it with us or you can sit in the shade. It's a lot of fun. I hope you'll come with us. Do you want to try?"

"No, the water looks dirty." She wrinkled up her nose. "I'll sit over here."

"Okay, if you decide to explore don't go far. You need to stay close enough to hear me call."

Sally walked off towards the trees without answering.

For forty-five minutes, Adam and Lizzie had a great time wading and splashing and generally getting about as wet as they would have had they actually gone swimming. Adam kept a wary eye on Sally, but she sat under the trees, pulled at the grass and when she did get up to explore, she didn't wander far.

"I'm afraid we need to head back to the Ponderosa, Lizzie. It's getting late and we both have things that we need to do before dinner."

"Sometimes I wish we really did have servants," said Lizzie wistfully.

"Me too!"

Sally saw that Adam and Lizzie were drying off and putting their boots back on and she came over.

"Can we go now?" She whined. "I'm bored."

"Absolutely, let's mount up."

Adam got both girls back in their saddles and they headed back towards the Ponderosa.

On the way out to the pond, Adam had kept a close eye on Sally, but now that he saw that Samson for the most part ignored her, he began to notice the mistakes that Lizzie was making and began correcting her. He didn't want to her to get into any bad habits.

"Keep your heels down, honey."

"Your letting the reins go slack. Don't forget your hands."

Lizzie corrected everything he mentioned, but since his attention was divided between his own riding, watching over Sally and correcting Lizzie, he didn't notice the tell tale signs that she was getting upset. He couldn't see her face as it tightened up and her stiffening back only seemed to him to be improving her posture. By the time they got back to the Ponderosa, Lizzie was extremely upset. Adam got the girls dismounted and both girls headed towards the house.

"Ah, Lizzie, we have horses to care for." Adam called after her.

"But, Sally isn't"

"Sally is a guest and can't be expected to do chores. You, on the other hand, know better and you'll stay here and help me finish."

Sally smiled at that and ran into the house looking for her mother.

Lizzie snatched up a brush and started working on Samson's coat, but because she was angry, her strokes were short and choppy. After having put up with an inexperienced rider that afternoon, Samson began to get skittish. He wasn't used to this sort of treatment from Lizzie. He shied and danced at the end of the reins that had him tied to front of the stall.

"Long, slow strokes, Lizzie." Adam chided.

"I know." Lizzie said with a huff.

"Then do it. What's gotten into you? We just got back from a nice time at the pond and you're sassing me?"

"Sorry."

"Come over here and help me with Blaze."

"I'm working on Samson."

"Do as I say, now." Adam commanded in a low voice.

He wasn't sure what had gotten into Lizzie but he could usually get it out of her when they worked on something together. He didn't just want her to correct her attitude he wanted to know what had caused it in the first place and direct confrontation about her attitude wouldn't get her to open up to him.

"Please tell me why you're upset, Lizzie. What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Adam sighed. As they worked on the horses, Adam tried to engage Lizzie in conversation. All he could get from her were formal, polite replies. Adam thought back over the day trying to figure out what had made her upset and he came up empty. Adam finally stopped trying to get Lizzie to talk and they lapsed into silence.

When the horses were groomed and back in their stalls, Lizzie asked, "Can I go to my room now?"

"When all the animals are watered, you may." He answered with a sigh.

"Yes, sir."

With that reply, Adam definitely knew something was wrong. She only called him sir what she was in serious trouble or was seriously angry with him. He know that there would be no way to get her to tell him what she was angry about until she was ready, so he let her go.

The day had been cool, so filling the troughs scattered about the yard was a relatively quick job. As she filled the pail and carried the water around, Lizzie went from angry to upset. Her papa had criticized her the whole trip back and he had never said anything to Sally. "Sally must be the best rider ever and she would never be any good," thought Lizzie. As soon as the last pail-full was emptied, Lizzie threw the pail down and ran up to her room, crying.

As Adam finished up the last of his chores in the barn, Hoss came in.

"Where's Lizzie?"

"Lizzie is up in her room."

"Is she in trouble with you?"

"No, apparently, I am in trouble with her." Adam grimaced.

"Aw, Adam, that little gal loves you."

"I am sure that she does, she just doesn't like me too much right now."

"Well, what set her off?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Adam leaned back against the side of the stall, crossing his arms and staring out through the barn door to Lizzie's window.

"I was going to work with that palomino out in the corral and I thought Lizzie might like to watch. Is it okay if I go upstairs and talk to her? Maybe I can find out why she's upset."

"Be my guest, Hoss and if you do find out what's wrong, will you let me know?"

"Sure, big brother." Hoss reached out and patted Adam on the shoulder.

Hoss climbed the stairs and knocked on Lizzie's door. He didn't get a response, but he thought he heard sniffling inside.

"Lizzie? It's me, Uncle Hoss. Can I come in?"

"Yes, Uncle Hoss."

When Hoss entered the room he saw that Lizzie had been crying, but she was sitting up and trying to act like she hadn't been. Hoss decided to ignore the tears until he could get an idea what they were about.

"I'm going to work with the palomino. I thought you might like to come down and watch."

"Uncle Hoss, do you think I'm a good rider?"

Hoss was a taken a back at how out of the blue that question was. He thought that might be a clue to what was upsetting her.

"Well, honey, you're doing really well."

"But am I good rider?"

"Getting there."

"So, no."

"What's all this about? Why the question?"

Lizzie shrugged.

"Your papa said you were angry at him. Did he tell you you weren't riding well?"

"The whole way back he was criticizing me. He never said anything to Sally. She said she's a good rider and I guess that means I'm terrible." Lizzie burst into tears.

Hoss moved over to the bed. He picked Lizzie up and settled down into the chair by the window with her in his lap.

He sat with her for a while just letting her cry before he said anything.

"Well, Lizzie. Your papa wants you to be a good rider. We all, your papa, Uncle Joe and me, we all try to correct you when you're riding. We don't want you to fall into bad habits. I thought you understood that. We don't do it to be mean. We just want you to be the best rider that you can."

"But the whole way back, Uncle Hoss."

"I know that's hard. Did you try to tell him that it was upsetting you?"

"No. He never said anything to Sally. She must be perfect."

"Well, I don't know about that. Maybe you should talk to him. He seemed pretty upset that you were angry with him. You know your papa loves you and he doesn't want you to be upset with him."

"I know."

"So, let's dry your tears and we'll go down to work with the palomino and you can have a talk with your papa. Does that sound alright?"

Lizzie nodded and let Hoss dry her tears for her.

As Hoss and Lizzie walked downstairs, they found Adam sitting on the sofa, reading. He looked up at Lizzie and she ducked her head.

"Hey, Adam. Me and Lizzie are going to go out to work with the palomino. Why don't you come help?"

"Is that okay with you, Lizzie?"

"Yes, Papa."

Adam sighed at the word papa. At least he wasn't sir anymore.

Adam stood and followed them out to the corral. Lizzie and Adam leaned against the hitching post and watched Hoss as he put the halter on the horse and started to work with it on the lunge line.

"Are you still cross with me?"

"No, Papa."

"Will you tell me why you were cross with me?"

Lizzie shrugged.

"You know I can't be careful not to do it again, if I don't know what made you upset."

"You think I'm a terrible rider." Lizzie whispered.

"What?"

"You think I'm a terrible rider. You spent the whole time coming back criticizing me and you never said anything to Sally 'cause she's a good rider. You think I'm a terrible rider." Lizzie spoke a little bit louder than she had planned.

"I see." Adam took a deep breath and tried to decide how best to respond to that.

"I was critical with you on the trip back, that's true. I'm sorry that it upset you. I thought you wanted to be a better rider. The only way for that to happen is if we tell you when you aren't doing things properly. I didn't mean to be harsh with you and I am sorry I upset you. Will you forgive me?"

Adam crouched down and put his hands on her hips, looking her in the eye. Lizzie put her arms around his neck and hugged him.

"Do you forgive me?" Adam asked again.

"Yes," she said into his neck.

"Now, as far as Sally goes. Why do you think she is a good rider?" Adam kept his arms tight around Lizzie's body and waited for her to answer.

"She said that people told her all the time that she was a good rider."

"Well, maybe the people that told her that have different standards for good." Adam said gently.

Lizzie pulled back and looked Adam in the face, keeping her arms around his neck. "Do you think she lied?"

"I don't know if she lied or not, people may very well have told her she was a good rider. I'm just saying she makes mistakes when she is riding too."

"Really?"

"Yes, and you are not to tell her I told you that. It would be impolite to contradict her and it might hurt her feelings. She will be gone in a couple of days and it won't matter if I or anyone one else on the Ponderosa think she is a good rider."

Lizzie nodded. They stood and watched Hoss working with the palomino for a while.

"So, let me see if I understand. The only reason you were upset was because I was correcting your riding and not Sally's? You thought that I wasn't correcting her because she was riding perfectly?"

Lizzie nodded.

Adam kept his eyes on Hoss and the horse, when he said, "I want you to promise me two things. First of all, when I do something that upsets you, you need to tell me and not give me the cold shoulder like you did in the barn. I don't like it when you are angry with me and I don't know why. We need to work things out. Second, you need to remember that you can only correct you own behavior, no one else's. So, I want you to think about that when you are being corrected. Just because everybody else is doing something wrong, doesn't give you a free pass to do the wrong thing. Whether or not Sally was riding well shouldn't have concerned you. I was trying to help you be a better rider and you needed to accept what I was telling you without getting upset. You usually accept criticism pretty well, so I know that you can do it, but I know sometimes it's hard, like today. Will you think about it?"

Adam glanced out of the corner of his eye to see Lizzie nodding, even though her eyes never left the horse.

Adam reached an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

"Good girl." He patted her shoulder.

Adam felt her arms close around his waist in a quick hug and then they both focused on Hoss and the palomino.

TBC


	5. Sally's tantrum

Adam, Hoss and Lizzie walked into a house that had become a battlefield. Sally was on the floor kicking and screaming. Joshua and Ruth were standing over her trying to get her to calm down. Little Joe was sitting on the back of the couch watching and laughing and Ben was in his chair near the fire scowling. Adam and Hoss sidestepped the crying girl and claimed seats near the fire. Adam had put a hand on Lizzie's shoulder when he saw what was going on. He had guided her ahead of him to the chair and pulled her up into his lap.

"You know what would happen if you ever decided to behave like that?" He whispered.

Lizzie looked on with wide eyes and nodded. She had never seen a full on temper tantrum like that. Neither she nor any of her friends would ever dream of behaving like that. They had a fairly healthy respect for the adults around them, and their parents' ability to remove all fun in their lives if they ever tried to get what they wanted in such a hateful way. Even pouting was frowned upon.

Lizzie looked on in amazement when she heard Ruth say, "Alright, you can come into town with me. You have to promise to behave and not tell me you're bored."

At that statement, the tantrum stopped, Sally sat up without a tear on her face and said. "I promise."

Lizzie heard a growl from both her father and her grandpa.

Adam and Ben looked at each other and exchanged a look that said that they both realized that Joshua and Ruth were in over their heads and were going to need assistance from the two of them to keep from drowning.

Hop Sing came out of the kitchen and said, "Dinner in ten minutes; everybody wash up."

Ruth led Sally upstairs and Adam, Little Joe, Hoss and Lizzie went to their rooms. Joshua left abruptly out the front door and Ben followed him.

Ben found Joshua resting his forearms on top of the railing and looking out across the yard.

"Raising children is never easy." Ben said. He, too, leaned his arms on the railing and looked out to where the chickens were feeding in front of the barn.

"It's embarrassing, Ben. Ruth never behaved that way."

"Oh, Sally's just a little girl, I'm sure she grow out of the temper tantrums."

"I look at you and your sons and granddaughter and I wish that our life was as peaceful as yours. How did you do it? You've been a single father for most of those boys' lives. Adam is raising his daughter as a single parent. I never thought Ruth would be doing the same thing, but since she was left single and with child, she has had to raise that child alone. I sometimes wonder if she should have let Sally be adopted. I know Ruth struggles with being a good mother. She was just so young when that horrible man who she thought she loved left her a mother without benefit of marriage."

"Oh, she's not so alone, is she? You're there for her and Sally."

"Ben, I am too old to be raising children. I didn't realize how spoiled I was to have such a well-behaved child in Ruth. I just don't know what to do. I see Adam with Lizzie and I am jealous. I know I should be grateful for Sally and not jealous of Lizzie, but I am. Your own sons are fine men: a result of their upbringing I'm sure."

"We have all had our moments."

"How did you do it, Ben?"

"Well, I think I was pretty lucky…blessed really with my sons. When Adam and I were out on the trail, I think I spent a lot of time scared that something was going to happen. I was probably much too hard on Adam. I was always so afraid that the consequences of disobedience could be death, that I was a stern taskmaster with him. He was a smart boy, but a bit of a brooder. I think he was usually much harder on himself than even I was. He grew up much too fast and took on much too much responsibility as a boy. Hoss, on the other hand, was always easy going and a sharp word or a frown from me usually brought him into line, although, there were times when his heart overrode his good sense and I had to tan him. Joseph," Ben smiled. "Joseph, has had it the easiest I think. He had a mother for the first few years of his life and then he had a stable home, here on the Ponderosa. I was older and perhaps less hard on him than I was the other boys. I think that they all knew I loved them, but they also knew I wasn't afraid to punish them when they stepped out of line."

"Adam is a much better father to Lizzie than I was to my boys at her age. He is more encouraging of her doing the right thing. He is much less punitive than I was. He can be quite persuasive with her and she usually complies with his wishes just because she knows how much he adores her I think."

"I just wish I knew what to do with Sally."

"Do you see those chickens over there in the yard, Joshua? Do you see how bunched up they are? Compare them to the ones in the chicken yard. See that the ones with the fenced chicken yard are much more spread out? I think children are like those chickens. They need to know where the boundaries are and they feel free to spread out because they feel safe. The ones in the yard without the fence don't feel safe, so they are sticking together. You need to let Sally know where the boundaries are and what will happen if she steps over them. Put up fences to stop her when she wants to step out of line. I think everyone will be happier if you do that, including her."

"I'm sure your right, Ben. I just never thought I would have a child to raise at this age."

"Come on, I'm sure dinner is on the table." Ben slapped him on the back and they headed into dinner.

* * *

><p>After dinner, the adults were settled around the fireplace and Lizzie and Sally were playing checkers.<p>

"You're cheating!" Lizzie said.

"Am not."

"Are too, you picked up one of my checkers."

"Did not!" Sally reached across the checkerboard and slapped Lizzie.

Lizzie flipped the checkerboard off the table and grabbed two handfuls of hair giving them a firm yank before Little Joe pulled her off Sally. Once Joe had Lizzie off of Sally, Sally lunged in and started slapping her again. Adam grabbed her arms and pulled her back.

"Settle down!" He yelled. Sally was a whirling dervish: kicking and fighting and struggling against Adam's strong grip.

Lizzie wasn't struggling in Joe's arms, but she had a scowl on her face and she clearly wasn't in control of her temper.

"I think it is time for you both to be in bed. If you can't play nicely together you can just head up to your rooms."

Joe let go of Lizzie and she headed up the stairs, but stopped at the landing. Sally continued to struggle with Adam.

"You're not my father. You can't tell me what to do! You have no right!"

"True, but your mother is here, so let's see what she thinks" Adam dragged the fighting girl over to stand in front of her mother.

"Ruth, I think it is time for the girls to go to bed. It would be my honor to be sure Sally is safely tucked into bed. Would that be alright with you?" Adam looked at Ruth hoping that his look would encourage her to accept his offer.

"Oh, Adam, I don't think…"

Joshua stepped up behind Ruth and put his hand on her shoulder.

"All….alright." She said quietly. This set off another struggling fit off from Sally. She turned her head as if to bite Adam's hand. Adam had had years of practice handling biting animals and quickly shifted his hand to the back of her dress, pulling up a handful. He pulled upward until she was balanced on her toes. Being pulled up like that gave her much less leverage to move and the struggles died down quickly.

"Ah, ah. I spank when I'm bitten." Adam said pleasantly. "Just so we're clear here, Ruth, about my rights…I also spank when little girls are disobedient and don't do as they are told." Adam and Sally both looked at Ruth to see what she would say. Adam's look was hopeful. Sally's look was one of anger and the tiniest twinge of fear.

"Lizzie, did you hear what I said about disobedient girls? I want you upstairs getting ready for bed." Adam called without turning around. He kept his eyes on Ruth's willing her to say yes. Lizzie recognized the tone of Adam's voice and quickly ran up the rest of the stairs. She wanted to see what was going to happen to Sally, but not if it meant a spanking.

"No…" Ruth started to speak.

"Of course, Adam. Thank you. I am sure you will do the right thing for Sally." Joshua interrupted. He squeezed Ruth's shoulder in encouragement.

"Yes, thank you, Adam." Ruth finally said, avoiding Sally's eyes.

Joshua, however, never took his eyes off Sally's face. He saw shock and anger there and he felt guilty that Adam was doing what he should have done many years ago: taking charge of Sally and making her mind.

"So, I guess we are clear on my rights in this situation, Sally. Bedtime!" Adam walked Sally up the stairs to her bedroom, never releasing his grip on the back of her dress. He closed the door and leaned against it, letting Sally's dress go in the process.

"Get undressed and put on your night gown."

"No."

"Go stand behind that screen and put on your nightgown." Adam rummaged through her trunk to find the gown. Finding it, he held it out to Sally.

"I meant what I said downstairs about spanking when little girls don't mind."

Sally took the nightgown, but didn't move.

"Do you need help?" Adam reached out to turn Sally around and undid the sash and buttons on the back of her dress. He kept a strong hand on her shoulder to keep her from squirming away. After he had everything unfastened, he gave her a little shove in the direction of the screen. Sally took a quick step forward, but didn't move. She turned around with a glare, before dropping to the floor screaming. Adam pulled a chair away from the desk in the room and took a seat. He picked up the book that was resting on the desk and leaned back in the chair, crossing his legs at the ankles.

Sally writhed and kicked and screamed and Adam just kept reading. When Sally had exhausted herself, Adam put the book down, bringing the chair legs back to the floor with a bump and said, "Go change. Last warning. I really don't think you want a spanking, do you?"

Sally sat and glared, but didn't move.

"Alright, I guess it's time for you to learn I mean what I say."

Adam stood up and picked Sally up by her arm. She started struggling again almost immediately. Adam landed three quick pops to Sally's bottom, just enough, he hoped, to encourage her to comply. When Adam dropped her arm with an encouraging, "Go on now, Sally" She once again dropped to the floor, kicking and screaming.

Adam took his seat back in the chair and picked up the book. When the noise died down, Adam looked over the top of the book.

"Finished?' He asked. This set off another storm of crying and screaming.

"Guess not." Adam returned to reading. Sally stopped again, this time much more quickly.

"Go change." Adam commanded when the tantrum was over. He pitched his voice low and leaned forward resting his arms on his legs and folding his hands. When Sally didn't move, Adam reached out and took her arm, pulling her across his lap. Adam pulled up her skirt and the petticoats under it and pinning them under his left hand he began spanking. He didn't say anything. He just kept his hand falling and watched Sally's reactions. At first, all of her energies were put into just getting away, but after the fourth spank he could tell the pain was starting to register. Another four and he stopped, keeping her pinned there.

"You need to mind me, Sally." He put her on her feet and walked her over to the nightgown that was lying twisted on the floor. Adam put it into Sally's hands and walked her over to the screen keeping his hands on her shoulders.

"Put on the nightgown, or I'll do it for you."

Sally was too exhausted from the tantrums and the spanking to do much more than scowl at him. Adam gave her a gentle push behind the screen and hoped that would be enough. After a few minutes, Sally peaked out from behind the screen. She had put on her nightgown and her face was streaked with tears.

"Come on Darlin'," Adam said quietly. "You made that a lot harder on yourself than it needed to be."

Adam sighed and stoked her hair.

"Do you want me to braid your hair so it won't be a mess in the morning?" Not waiting for an answer, Adam turned her around, carded his fingers through her hair and braided it into one thick braid, tying it with a string that was on the nightstand.

Adam had pulled down the covers while Sally was changing and he put her softly into the bed. She didn't resist him, but she didn't help any either.

"Does your bottom hurt?"

Sally nodded.

"I know," Adam said sympathetically. "I don't want to have to spank you again, so you're going to need to mind me." Adam pushed the tear-dampened hair off her face. "Do you understand what that means?"

Sally's eyes were starting to close, so Adam didn't require an answer. He was satisfied with a nod right before she fell asleep. He was not looking forward to the morning. He feared that a rested Sally was going to be quite a handful especially after tonight.

Adam closed the door softly before heading into his daughter's room. She was lying in bed with the light still on.

"Good girl. Thank you for doing as I asked."

"Are you upset at me? I was provocative."

"Yes, you were provoked, but you shouldn't have gotten into a fight with Sally." Adam smiled a quick smile at her use of the word provocative.

"She was cheating."

"Not a good enough reason to fight with her."

"She slapped me."

"That is the only reason that you are in bed without a sore bottom. Next time I won't go easy on you. You are being raised to be a lady and ladies do not get into fistfights, despite being provoked. Do you understand? You have a quick mind and you should use it instead of your fists."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You may…"

"Promise you won't get mad and lecture me." Lizzie said seriously.

"I'll do my best." Adam smiled quickly and then put a serious look on his face.

"I threw a tantrum this morning and you put me in the corner."

"I did." Adam resisted the urge to add that she needed to learn to control her temper. He had promised to try not to lecture.

"Sally threw a temper tantrum and got what she wanted. How come?'

Adam had feared this was where the conversation was heading and he wasn't quite sure how to answer. He always tried to be truthful with Lizzie, but he didn't want to say that the reason Sally got what she wanted was because her mother and grandpa were pushovers.

"Everybody raises their children in different ways. The rule in this house is no tantrums. Remember what I said about riding horses and being corrected? It's true in this case too. You need to do your best to do the right thing and not worry if someone else is getting away with being naughty. Sally's mother and grandpa are doing what they think is right for Sally the same way that I and your grandpa and uncles are doing what we think is best for you."

Lizzie took a breath to ask another question, but before she could get it out, Adam kissed her on the forehead and said, "You think about it. We can talk some more in the morning if you want. Sleep now. Love you, Liz."

"Love you too, Papa."

Lizzie rolled over and closed her eyes and Adam turned out the light. After a quick look in on a still sleeping Sally, he headed back downstairs.

TBC


	6. Parenting

As Adam came down the stairs, all eyes in the room turned towards him.

"Adam?" Ruth came up to him with questions in her eyes.

"She's okay. She's asleep. She'll be fine."

Ruth pushed past him to rush up the stairs to check on Sally. Adam grimaced as he watched her flee up the stairs.

Adam came down and sat on the chair near the fireplace.

"What happened?" Joshua asked.

"You mean you couldn't hear?" Adam asked as he scrubbed his eyes with his hand.

"Adam, tell us. We heard screaming and silence and then more screaming. Tell us." Ben commanded.

"Well, I tried to be patient with her. I gave her a lot more chances to do as I asked than I ever would have given Lizzie. She threw a tantrum and after I swatted her a few times she threw two more tantrums and I felt I didn't have any choice, Joshua." Adam looked up to meet the man's eyes. "She needed to understand I was serious, that I don't make empty threats. I spanked her, and thankfully she gave in and put on her nightgown. I braided her hair, put her in bed and she fell almost immediately asleep."

Joshua nodded looking down at his hands.

"This is not a long term solution by any means. The only reason she is upstairs in bed now is because I was more stubborn than she was. That was forced compliance and anyone will tell you that force should be a last resort. Hoss will tell you." Adam gestured at his brother. "When you are working with a horse or a human for that matter, you need to build a bond, get them to trust you so that they will want to do as you ask. In the military, soldiers will follow their leaders because they trust them."

Hoss nodded, "Once a horse is broke, you want to work slow and steady to earn their trust and obedience."

"Exactly," Adam said nodding. "What happened tonight is that Sally now realizes that you want her to be obedient and that you were willing to let me spank her to get that obedience. She's broke so to speak. But, you are going home and you will be in exactly the same boat you are now it you don't step up and take control. I don't know how Sally will be tomorrow: if she'll be angry or scared or defiant, but I am pretty sure she will do what I ask her to do because she knows I won't let her get away with not minding me. She might even mind you for the same reason, but I don't think that's the right reason. I know you want her to be motivated by love not fear."

"I don't know what to do, Adam."

"Pa and I will help you and Ruth, if she'll let us." Adam took a deep breath. "Look, I know that Lizzie does her best to be obedient because she loves me and wants to make me proud. She also knows that I love her even when she misses the mark. She knows I punish her because I care about the person she is and the person she's becoming. When I was a boy, I did as Pa asked out of respect and love, as I suspect Hoss and Joe did." Adam looked at his brothers and saw them nodding. "Not because I feared that he would punish me. There were times when I avoided certain things knowing he would use his belt on me if I did them, but those were rare occasions. Mostly I obeyed him because I didn't want to disappoint him. I wanted him to be proud of me. Of course, I made mistakes like every other child does and I did things I shouldn't. Pa took me out to the woodshed, straightened me out and we moved on. While, I didn't like it at the time, I am glad that he did what he had to do."

Ben nodded. "I wanted my boys to grow up to be the best men that they could. I felt it was my job to put boundaries on their behavior. Adam mentioned being a leader. The best leaders I ever served under were the ones who inspired trust, but still maintained discipline. Punitive action on the part of good leaders was always easier to accept by the whole troop when it was handed down by someone who you trusted to be fair and had shown they were genuinely concerned about the welfare of those serving under them. Our behavior was very often influenced by our wanting our commanders to be proud of us. I had hoped to inspire the same in my children."

"Did you spank her, Adam? There were tears on her little face." Ruth had come down the stairs. The emotions on her face flickered between sadness and anger.

"I did... Believe me, I didn't want to. I tried to get her to mind me without it. She was just willful and I wanted her to know that tantrums were not going to get her her way." Adam rubbed his eyes again.

"Ruth," Joshua reached out her hand to her. "Adam did the right thing." Ruth came the rest of the way down the stairs and took his hand.

"I'm not sure, Joshua," said Adam. "In my life, Pa's discipline had a much bigger effect on my behavior than anyone else's discipline. I always felt like he was punishing me to make me a better person, not just to stop a certain behavior. Sally doesn't even know me. I can get her to stop certain behaviors, but only you and Ruth can give her a reason better than fear to change. I have laid the groundwork, but if you aren't going to follow it up, then I put both of us through a spanking for nothing expect to get her into bed. It is probably not my place to say, but Sally earned a spanking tonight, and I can't help but feel that it should have come at your hands, not mine."

"I don't think I could ever hurt my child that way." Ruth moved to sit next to her father and he put his arm around her.

"Are you angry that I did?" Adam asked quietly.

"No, I was when I saw her tears, but I think what you just said is right. I want her to be better behaved. I do. I want her to be a good person. I just feel so guilty when I make her cry. She has had such a difficult life, having no father. I just want her to be happy." Ruth said in a pleading tone.

"Ruth," said Ben. "Do you think Lizzie is happy?"

Ruth nodded.

"Do you think Sally is happy?" He asked gently.

I don't know…"

"I think Lizzie is happy because Adam is making her feel secure. She knows we all love her more than any of us can express. She knows what's expected of her and she knows what will happen when she doesn't do what's expected of her. I suspect that Adam doesn't feel any better about having to punish her than I did with my own boys. He does it because it is best for her and because he has been clear about expectations and consequences, he has a happy, disciplined child. If that's what you want for Sally, you need to start teaching her about acceptable behavior. You need to start disciplining her, if that is spanking or making her stand in the corner, or writing lines. She needs to know you love her and care enough about her to make her behave and punish her when she doesn't."

"Let us help you," said Adam. "You're here for the next few days. Will you try it our way?"

Ruth nodded and placed her head on her father's shoulder. Joshua looked at the pleading looks of Ben and Adam and nodded too.

TBC


	7. The morning after

Adam lay in bed watching the sun creep across his coverlet. He wondered how easy it would be to get dressed and slip out before the rest of the house started to stir. He was not looking forward to more Sally. He knew he should probably feel sorry for her since it wasn't really her fault that she was so out of control. He figured his own Lizzie could very well have behaved in much the same way if she had been allowed to let her Cartwright temper run unchecked. Adam hoped that he and his pa could help Ruth and Joshua get started in civilizing Sally.

As Adam started to roll over to grab a little more sleep, he heard a quiet knocking at his door. Knowing whom it was, he said, "Come in Lizzie."

Adam smiled as his daughter came in carrying her comb and a barrette.

"How'd you know it was me?" She asked climbing up on the bed and lying on top of him to give him a hug.

"I have special papa powers." He said smiling and sitting up, putting his hand on her back and pulling her up with him.

Lizzie always found a way to be near him when she had been naughty. It was as if she needed the reassurance that she was forgiven and loved. Adam smiled as she handed him her comb.

"Would you put up my hair princess style?" Lizzie turned around so that her back was to him.

On an average day, Lizzie was perfectly capable of doing her own hair, buttoning her own dress and tying her own bows and sashes, but the morning after a correction, she became unable. Adam was glad of it because he got to touch her and reassure her that whatever she had done wrong was in the past and she was forgiven. Using the comb, Adam pulled up the top layer of hair into his hand, leaving the bottom part down. She had seen a drawing of a princess in one of her storybooks where the princess had worn a pointed hat and had hair trailing out from beneath. Lizzie had started calling hair worn that way princess style. Adam liked it that way because it was more feminine, but Lizzie usually wore her hair in a ponytail because then it was out of her way. He realized that it was a more practical way to wear her hair, and hoped that she would want the more feminine style as she got older. Ben had mentioned a time or two that Adam should try to encourage her to be more of a little girl, but Adam thought that Lizzie needed to learn to dress and wear her hair appropriately for the occasion. She knew to wear dresses to parties and church and she chose the more practical trousers and shirt for when she was outside helping with running the ranch. Adam had decided that she should be free to make her own choices in that regard.

"Sorry about last night," said Lizzie as she sat in front of Adam on the bed.

"You do have your fair share of the Cartwright temper, that is for sure. As far as I am concerned it is over and done with…." Adam left the sentence hanging wondering what Lizzie would say next.

"Do you think I need to apologize to Sally for pulling her hair?"

Adam kept combing Lizzie's hair, knowing that it was much easier for both of them to talk freely when not directly face-to-face.

"Well, do you think that was wrong of you?"

"She started it."

"True, so you think she deserved it…pulling her hair was the right thing to do." Adam stated in a matter of fact tone. He kept his tone neutral because he didn't want to influence Lizzie's decision about this.

"You don't think it was the right thing for me to have done." Lizzie's head pulled back as Adam worked the knots out of her hair.

"That's why I punished you by sending you to bed, but I don't think you should apologize unless you really mean it and are sorry. If you apologize and aren't sorry or at a minimum don't think what you did was wrong; then apologizing is the same as lying. Give me the barrette."

Lizzie handed the barrette back to Adam and thought for a while. "I don't know if I'm sorry or not."

"Then you should wait to apologize, just remember the longer you wait, the harder it will be. I think you need to ask yourself if you had to do it all over again, would you do the same thing? You're growing up and you need to start deciding what kind of person you are going to be. Okay, " Adam kissed the top of her head. "I need to get dressed. I'll see you downstairs in a minute." Adam reached the comb out of front of them so that she could take it.

'Thanks, Papa, I am sorry I made _you_ angry."

Adam picked Lizzie up off the bed, swinging her out and onto her feet. "Apology accepted. You are for…give…en." He swatted her playfully on each syllable as he walked her to the door.

Ten minutes later, Adam walked out of his room to hear Lizzie saying "Sorry about my temper last night." He walked down the stairs to see his father, brothers and Joshua at the table. They were all nodding. Adam smiled to himself with pride. The true test, he thought, would be when Sally was at the table. Adam did not want Lizzie apologizing because _he_ thought she should. He had required it when she was a much younger girl, hoping that she would learn how to apologize properly and get into the habit of it, but as she had gotten older, he had left it up to her, as he had told her upstairs, she needed to apologize because she was sorry or because she thought what she had done was wrong, not because she was required to apologize.

"Good morning, everyone," said Adam as he took his place next to Lizzie. There were murmurs of good mornings as everyone settled in to eating.

A few minutes later, Ruth and Sally joined them at the table. As they took their seats, everyone stopped eating and wished them good morning, but there was the slightest bit of tension in the air. The conversation from last night was still fresh in everyone's minds as were the events that led up to it and although they had all gone to bed in agreement, putting what was said into practice seemed daunting in the light of day.

"Sally, I'm sorry I pulled your hair last night," Lizzie said breaking the silence. The adults collectively held their breaths.

Sally stuck her tongue out at Lizzie and started to put food on her plate.

"Sa-lly" Adam said his voice falling to show his disappointment. The eyes that met his were defiant. Adam wasn't sure how to feel about that. He figured it was better than fear, but he now knew they were going to have quite the battle on their hands.

Ben looked at Joshua and Ruth and said, "While not accepting an apology is certainly allowable, I don't think sticking your tongue out is the way to do it." He looked pointedly at Joshua.

In the meantime, Adam leaned down and whispered to Lizzie, "Good girl, I'm proud of you for doing the right thing."

Lizzie looked up at him and then over at Sally. She didn't know how to respond, she was used to being forgiven when she apologized. She again looked up at Adam with questions in her eyes.

"You try again later, maybe Sally will be in a more forgiving mood. You did fine, now eat your breakfast and don't worry." Adam whispered.

"You know, Sally. When I was your age and I misbehaved at the table, Pa always gave me the chance to apologize for being rude before he sent me to the corner." Joe spoke to Sally, but looked at Joshua.

Joshua looked down at Sally eating and ignoring everyone. He reached down and took her plate away.

"Hey, I was eating." Sally whined. She tried to grab the plate back from him, but he held it out of her reach.

"Sally, apologize for being rude or you'll find yourself standing in the corner."

"No! She was mean to me last night. I don't like her."

"It doesn't matter. You are not allowed to be rude. Sticking out your tongue was rude."

"Ah, Joshua? The corner over by the desk is free." Adam glanced from Joshua to the corner. "Maybe Sally needs some time to think about things."

Joshua took the hint; he put the plate down on the table and walked Sally from the table to the corner. When he got her there, he landed one solid swat on her backside and said, "Don't move from this corner until I give you permission."

Joshua stepped back, but seemed a little lost at what to do next. Adam quickly got up from the table and brought Joshua's plate to the desk.

"Why don't you finish your breakfast over here, Joshua? Sally might need some help staying in the corner." With those words barely out of Adam's mouth, Sally made to dash out of the corner. Adam put the plate down and grabbed her arm as she ran past. He pulled her over and placed her arm firmly in Joshua's hand, before heading back to the main table.

Joshua put Sally back into the corner and with another two quick pops on her rump, sat down to eat his breakfast. The adults at the table did their best to ignore the battle of wills in the corner and carry on a normal conversation, but they couldn't help glancing over periodically towards the desk.

"So, what is everyone's plan for the day?" Ben asked as cheerfully as he could. "Ruth, I guess you, Joshua, Sally and I will head into town after breakfast." Ben lifted his eyebrows, trying to encourage her to join in the conversation. Ruth turned to look at him and nod, but immediately turned back to watch her daughter and father.

Ben looked at Hoss and Joe. "I hope you two are planning on finishing riding the fence up in the north pasture. I don't want any more calves escaping through those holes." He pointed at each of them.

"Yes, Sir, Pa. We should be able to finish that up today," said Hoss.

"Adam?"

"Well, I wanted to meet with Mr. Parker and try to sell some of those yearling calves to him. I think selling them locally will make better sense than herding them to the stockyards."

Good, good, yes. Lizzie?"

Lizzie had her eyes on Sally and had not been paying attention to the conversation. She was trying to decide if Sally was going to try to run again. She, Lizzie, hated being in the corner and was glad that it didn't happen very often. She was surprised that Sally had tried to run especially with both Sally's grandpa and her own papa standing right there.

Adam touched Lizzie's arm. "Lizzie, your Grandpa is speaking to you."

"Sorry, grandpa. I didn't hear you." she dragged her eyes away from the corner.

"What are your plans for today?"

"I promised Hop Sing I would help him with canning the rest of the vegetables from the garden. He said I am the only one he trusts to do it right." Lizzie smiled. She knew Hop Sing was teasing the men and complimenting her at the same time, so she passed on his words with a laugh.

"I expect he is right," said Ben with a laugh. "Alright, well we should all get to it then."

Ben looked up to see Joshua bringing Sally over by the hand. All eyes went to her face.

"Sally…" Ruth began, reaching out for her and beginning to stand.

"Ruth…" Ben started to warn.

"Ruth, stay where you are. Let Sally speak." Joshua commanded.

Adam was pleased to hear some steel in his voice, perhaps he _could_ step up to the challenge of taming Sally once he knew what to do.

"Sally, do you have something to say?'

"Sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"Sorry, I was rude." Sally spoke quietly, barely above a whisper and she didn't look up. It was clearly a forced apology and had not a hint of contrition in it.

Adam was less than impressed with the apology, but he felt it was a step in the right direction. She was a least complying with the direct orders of her grandpa.

"Well, Lizzie, do you accept Sally's apology?" Adam looked hopefully at Lizzie. She was a sweet, compassionate little girl, but she was also eight and had been scrapping with Sally since she arrived.

"I forgive you, Sally. Will you forgive me for pulling your hair last night?" Lizzie said immediately.

Sally looked up and nodded, then her eyes returned to looking at the floor.

With a collective sigh around the table, Joshua let Sally's hand go. She ran immediately up the stairs. Adam reached over to pat Lizzie's back, nodding at her. He mouthed, "Good girl" at her. He smiled a big smile and mouthed again "Good girl."

Lizzie blushed and smiled back.

"Alright, everybody get busy." Ben slapped his hands on the table, startling everyone. Ruth jumped up from the table first to follow Sally up the stairs. Lizzie started clearing the table and the men went out to start the chores that needed to be done.

TBC


	8. The trip to town

After Lizzie had brought all the dishes in from the dining room, Hop Sing sent her out to the garden to start collecting the last of the vegetables. She filled the basket several times bringing them in to the kitchen where Hop Sing was chopping and blanching and sealing the vegetables in the glass jars.

"Gonna go say bye to Papa," Lizzie announced.

"Yes, but you come right back." Hop Sing commanded.

"Right back," Lizzie promised.

Lizzie ran out to the front of the house just as Ben, Joshua, Ruth and Sally were getting ready to drive away. Adam was preparing to mount his chestnut gelding as Joe walked out of the barn.

"Pa, be sure to take the upper road, I was down by the river last night and it is running really high from the snow melt. There's no guarantee it won't be flooding."

"Thanks, Joseph," called Ben as he waved and drove away.

"Bye Lizzie, be good and have fun with Hop Sing. I'll be home before lunch. Stay within calling distance of the house and no going down by the river, you heard your Uncle Joe, it's dangerous." Adam swept her up in a big hug before setting her on her feet and mounting up.

Lizzie ran back to the kitchen to get back to work. The next few hours were spent chopping vegetables, fetching and boiling water and listening to Hop Sing tell stories about China. Lizzie loved days in the kitchen with Hop Sing even though they were a lot of work and very tiring. She loved hearing about China and how Hop Sing had come to the United States. Every now and then she could even get him to tell her stories of naughty things he had done as a child.

Shortly before noon, when Lizzie thought she would collapse if she carried one more bucket of water, Adam stuck his head in the kitchen door, "Mind if I steal your sous chef?"

"No, you take her. She very good chef…very good girl." Hop Sing smiled and nodded at Adam and Lizzie and patted Lizzie on the head.

Lizzie didn't need to be told twice and she took Adam's hand and he led her out of the kitchen.

"I thought, madam, we could ride into town and eat at the restaurant there, then ride back with Pa and our guests. I need to talk to Sheriff Coffee too."

"Can I ride on Blaze?"

"Honey, I think it will be faster if we both go on Beauty. You and I haven't had a good gallop together in quite a while. What do you say?"

Lizzie was a little disappointed, but she liked riding at a gallop and knew that she wasn't quite ready to ride Blaze that fast yet. So, she pushed down her disappointment, smiled and said, "Promise we can gallop?"

"Absolutely," Adam spoke with pride and love in his voice as he watched his daughter shift her disappointment aside without raising a fuss. He found he had tensed a little when he told her they would be riding together. He guessed he was a more than a little sensitive with Sally around.

Adam and Lizzie raced to town, with Adam encouraging Beauty to a gallop at every straight bit of road. Lizzie screamed her delight and hung on to the saddle horn. Adam walked Beauty the last mile or so to town so that she could cool down and when they arrived in Virginia City, he gave her a nice long drink at the horse trough before tying her up in a shady spot.

"Ready for lunch?' Adam asked.

"Yes, same rules as always?"

"Yes, same rules as always."

Adam and Lizzie rarely ate at restaurants except when they were out of town, but when they did, Adam let Lizzie order for the both of them. She ordered something that she called safe, which meant it was something that she would like and would eat. The second thing she ordered was what she called dangerous. It was always something she had not tried before or wasn't sure she would like. She would try the dangerous meal first and if she didn't like it, Adam would eat the rest while she ate the safe meal. Adam had at times ended up eating things that he wasn't that fond of, but he wanted Lizzie to try new things and not be obligated to eat them like she would at the family dinner table. The café had recently changed cooks and the new man was from New Orleans. Adam was anxious to try some of the Creole dishes that were now on the menu. It would bring back old times.

After they were seated, Lizzie started reading the menu. "What's seafood gumbo?"

"Sort of a thick, spicy soup. It usually has rice in it."

"It says seafood, do you think that means fish?" Lizzie looked over the top of the menu and wrinkled her brow.

"Probably not, usually gumbo has things like shrimp in it."

"I like shrimp. Let's try that."

Sally scanned the rest of the menu looking for something safe, she finally settled on chicken and mashed potatoes. After their meals were delivered, Adam watched Lizzie try the gumbo. He found he was hoping she wouldn't like it. It had a delicate aroma and brought back all sorts of memories for him from his days in New Orleans.

After the first bite, Adam said, "Well?"

"It's good!" Lizzie looked up at Adam a little surprised. "It's a weird color, though," she said wrinkling her nose.

"Safe or dangerous?" Adam asked.

"Dangerous." Lizzie said with a smile.

"Dangerous! Good choice!" Adam praised her, although he wasn't getting the gumbo he had hoped for, he was proud of Lizzie for finding something new that she liked.

"What are these green round things?" Lizzie poked at them with her spoon.

"Okra, some people say that the West African name for okra is where the word gumbo comes from, do you like it?"

"It's kind of slimy, but I do like the taste."

"Be glad you aren't trying to eat it boiled." Adam grimaced. "Then it is really slimy!" He laughed. "When we were in New Orleans, we went visiting the neighbors for dinner and they served boiled okra. I had to eat everything on my plate just like you do. I seriously considered pretending to be sick so that I could avoid eating it."

"Really?" Lizzie's eyes got big.

"Yes, but your grandpa is pretty smart and I couldn't have pulled the wool over his eyes. He would have known I wasn't sick and I would have gotten in trouble for lying. So, I just did the best I could to get it down. I really like okra now in stews and soups: not boiled!" Adam laughed again.

They spent the rest of the meal talking about horses and riding, Lizzie's favorite topics. After finishing their meal and paying, Adam and Lizzie went looking for the rest of the group. The found Ben and Joshua leaning on the railing outside the general merchandise store, waiting for Ruth and Sally to join them after a visit to the outhouse.

Adam sat on the bench across from his father and stretched out his legs. Lizzie sat down next to Adam and started picking at the paint on the bench.

"Lizzie," Ben shook his head at her.

She put her hands in her lap and looked around, swinging her legs.

"Lizzie," Ben said more sternly and shook his head at her again.

She stopped swinging her legs and finally leaned over and put her head in Adam's lap, bringing her feet up onto the bench.

Adam placed his arm on her shoulder and put his lips close to her ear and said is a stage whisper, "Somebody's grumpy."

Lizzie giggled and looked over at her grandpa.

Adam looked up at his father from under his hat brim before saying in the same stage whisper, "Somebody needs a nap."

Lizzie laughed out loud with Adam at that pronouncement and after a moment Ben joined in. While Adam would never directly challenge his father, he had ways of letting Ben know when he was being unfair, especially to Lizzie. Ben acknowledged to himself that he was tense from the morning with Sally and was taking it out on Lizzie.

"Somebody thinks you are right. I'm sorry I was grumpy with you Lizzie."

"It's alright, Grandpa. Everybody has bad days."

"Here's a penny, honey. Go in the store and see what kinds of candy you can get with that." Adam pulled a coin from his pocket.

"'Kay," Lizzie got up off the bench and skipped into the store.

Ben watched Lizzie skip off and thanked God for probably the hundredth time that day that the eight year old he lived with was Lizzie and not Sally. Ben knew he was not the most patient man in the world, so it had taken Herculean effort not to blow up today at Sally's antics. Despite her promises to behave, she had started being difficult before they had left the yard. She wanted to switch seats with Ruth, because Ruth's side was more comfortable. She demanded that Ben drive faster because the trip was boring. When they met with the banker, she had crawled around under the table and wandered the room picking up things and the setting them back down with a loud bump. The meeting had taken twice as long because Sally kept interrupting to ask her mother questions. They had an early lunch at the restaurant and Sally had turned up her nose at everything that was offered. She finally had chocolate cake for lunch.

Ruth and Sally were walking up just as Adam gave Lizzie the penny.

"I want candy too!" Sally whined.

Joshua reached into his pocket and brought out a penny.

"A penny?" Sally complained.

"A penny or nothing," Joshua replied.

Sally looked around at all the frowning adults and after a quick glance at Adam in particular, she took the penny and walked through the door into the store.

Lizzie was in the store looking at all the candy and waiting for Mr. Mason to be finished with Mrs. Weston. She turned as Sally came in the door, but turned back to looking at the candies when she saw who it was.

"What's your favorite?" She asked.

"Dunno, peppermint probably."

"What can I do for you ladies?" Mr. Mason asked.

"I would like a penny's worth of candy please, Mr. Mason."

"Certainly, Miss Cartwright. What would you like?"

"Two pieces of black licorice, some jelly beans and lemon drops, please."

Mr. Mason pulled down each of the jars. He poured the last of the jelly beans into a paper sack and said, "You came in just in time, this is the last of the jelly beans.'

"Hey, I wanted jelly beans." Sally threw her penny down on the counter.

Lizzie turned towards her in surprise. "You said your favorite was peppermint, not jelly beans."

"Just because they are not my favorite, doesn't mean I don't want any!" Sally shouted.

The adults heard the commotion and came into the store.

"Problem?" Adam asked mildly. He leaned against the entrance with his arms crossed.

Lizzie turned towards him and despite the mildness of his question she knew the crossed arms indicated that he was angry. She wasn't sure what to say. She had intentionally not taken peppermint to keep Sally happy.

Joshua came in the door past Adam and asked, "What are you shouting about, Sally?"

"She took the last of the jelly beans."

"There are probably 10 different kinds of candy here, Sally, choose a different kind."

"No! I want jelly beans."

"She can have mine." Lizzie said softly.

She walked over to Adam's extended arm and leaned against him. He rubbed her back softly and guided her out of the store. Adam sat back down on the bench and pulled Lizzie into his lap.

"Why is she so mean?" Lizzie asked as she leaned her head into his chest.

"I wish I knew, honey."

A few minutes later, Sally and Joshua came out of the store. Joshua handed a bag to Lizzie and said, "We split the jelly beans between you two. The lemon drops and licorice are in there too."

Lizzie took the bag, but didn't open it. She just clutched it to her chest and snuggled closer to Adam.

"What do you say, Lizzie?" Adam prompted.

"Thank you, Mr. Brown."

"Will you put this in your pocket, Papa? I don't really want candy anymore." She held out the crumpled bag to him.

"Sure, honey. I'll keep it safe for later."

Any number of things were running through both Ben and Adam's minds about how this should have gone, but neither of them felt it was appropriate to speak of it in front on the girls, so they just loaded up the buggy and headed for home.

"We'll catch up with you, Pa. I need to speak to the sheriff." Adam called as the buggy pulled away.

Sally sat in the back seat of the buggy with Ruth and after eating all the candy; she pulled out a small carved horse and started stroking its mane.

"What are you playing with Sally?" Asked Ruth.

"A horsie, see?" She held it up so that Ruth could admire it.

"Where did you get it? I've never seen it before."

"Found it."

Now both men in the front seat looked behind them at the horse.

"Where did you find the horse, Sally?" Joshua asked sternly.

Sally shrugged.

Ben looked over his shoulder at the horse and when he saw it, he pulled the buggy over to the side of the road.

"That is one of the horses that Lizzie always looks at when we are in the store. You stole it, didn't you?" Ben demanded.

At about that time, Adam and Lizzie rode up.

"Pa, is something wrong?"

"No, it turns out we have some unfinished business in town. You go on to The Ponderosa. We'll see you there." Ben replied.

Adam looked quizzically at his father before heading off down the road. Ben said no more he just turned the buggy around and headed back to town.

"Ben, where are we going?" Ruth asked.

"Back to town so that Sally can return the horse and make it right with Mr. Mason." Ben said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, but it is such a small thing, surely it won't be missed," pleaded Ruth.

Ben, who had been holding on to his anger by a thread all day, nearly tore the reins from their rings as he stopped the buggy and put on the brake. He took several deep breaths before turning around in his seat to speak.

"Surely you don't think the fact that your daughter is a thief is a small thing!"

"She's not a thief." Ruth said in a defensive tone.

"I'm not a thief!" Chimed in Sally in a strident voice.

"What would you call someone who takes things that do not belong to them and do not pay for them then?" Ben asked in a low dangerous voice. He thrust his finger at Sally and turned to Joshua. "Joshua do you want your granddaughter to think that stealing is fine as long as she only takes small things?" He wheeled back around in the seat to Ruth, "Ruth, are you telling me that a fine man like your father taught you that taking small things that won't be missed is alright?" Ben stared at his friend, Joshua, in disbelief.

"You're right, Ben. Please take us back to town. Sally, you _will_ return that horse, apologize to Mr. Mason, and then you and I will find a quiet place to discuss why stealing is wrong."

Sally and Ruth simultaneously burst into tears as Ben turned around, release the brake and urged to horses into an easy cantor.

TBC


	9. Sally's apology

**Thank you all so much for your kind reviews, story alerts and author alerts. I am so glad that you are enjoying the story!**

As the buggy headed back towards town, Joshua turned and took the toy horse from Sally's hand. He didn't want her to decide to throw the toy away. Joshua turned the horse over and over in his hands, lost in thought. The trip back to town was quiet except for the occasional sniffle. Ben was fit to be tied and Joshua was asking himself how he had gotten to the point where he had a brat for a granddaughter and a daughter who was more child than adult. He knew things needed to change and he was going to have to step up and be a parent again, a task he had thought he had left well behind him. His wife was the one who was good with children, he had watched Adam with Lizzie and he wasn't sure he would ever have that easy a relationship with Sally, even Ben had a better relationship with Lizzie than he thought possible for him and Sally, but being a pragmatic man, he would bow to the inevitable and do what he had to do. By the time the buggy arrived back in Virginia City, Ben's anger had cooled considerably, while Joshua's had escalated. Ben stopped the buggy in front of the store.

Ben turned around in his seat and leveled a stare at Sally before turning to Joshua. "Remember this is all new to her." He said quietly.

Joshua jumped out of the buggy and took Sally's hand.

"You will apologize to the store owner and return the horse." He commanded, looking down at her and frowning.

Sally struggled in his grip, but Joshua marched determinedly up the store stairs dragging Sally behind him.

Ben got out of the buggy and held out his hand to Ruth to help her down.

"I prefer to stay here." Ruth said quietly, looking down at her hands.

"You need to be in that store. Your daughter stole that horse and she needs to know that you disapprove of stealing despite your earlier defense of her actions." Ben said firmly and took her by the elbow. "Come on." He said gruffly.

Ben pulled Ruth out of the buggy and tucking her arm firmly under his, he walked her up the steps and into the store in much the same way that Joshua had just walked Sally up the same stairs. Ruth could do nothing except follow him into the store.

"Mr. Mason?" Called Joshua.

"Back so soon?" Jim Mason stepped out from the back room, smiling.

"I'm afraid so," said Joshua.

"My granddaughter, Sally, has something to say to you." Joshua put the horse into Sally's hand and gave her a push forward. She looked back at him with a frown, but the returning glare she got made her decide to do as she was told.

"Certainly," he turned with a smile towards the little girl.

"I took this." Sally said holding out the horse.

Mr. Mason took the horse from her and glanced up at Joshua. He had owned a store for a long time and this was not the first irate parent who had brought a child in to confess their theft.

"I see," he crouched down to be at Sally's eye level. "Why?"

Sally kept her eyes down. So, Mr. Mason reached out to lift her chin to look at him.

"Why did you steal the horse?" He asked quietly.

Sally shrugged.

"I think you know why. It is okay to tell me." Mr. Mason kept his voice quiet and coaxing.

Sally looked up at him and started to feel a little guilty. "'Cause I wanted it."

"Did you ask your grandpa or your mama if they would buy it for you?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Sally shrugged again.

Mr. Mason glanced up at the frowning Joshua and then over at Ben and a shrinking Ruth. He glanced back at Ben and knew that if he were in here with Lizzie this would be going a whole lot differently. If this were almost any child in town, including his own, they would be crying and apologizing to try and minimize the spanking they would know was coming when they got home. Sally had yet to apologize and except for the fact that she wasn't looking him in the eye, she didn't seem sorry in the least.

"I don't think you're really sorry that you took this horse. I think you are just sorry you're back here having to apologize. If you were my daughter, you would be getting a spanking and be back in here working to pay off the cost of the horse." He said sternly.

He stood and said "Mr. Brown, I appreciate you bringing your granddaughter in to apologize and return the horse." He held out his hand.

Joshua felt embarrassment sweep over him. The man was taking the high road and letting Sally off the hook. He knew that if he took the offered hand it would be over and even if he spanked Sally for her stealing, the real lesson of recognizing how your actions hurt others would not be learned. Only this morning Lizzie had apologized with no apparent prompting from Adam for her actions. Adam hadn't even been present when Lizzie had made her first apology. That was what he hoped to get one day from his granddaughter.

Taking Sally by the upper arm, he looked from the hand to the storekeeper's eyes, "Mr. Mason. I do apologize for my granddaughter's behavior and her decided lack of remorse. If there is somewhere private where I might encourage a little more contrition, I would appreciate it."

"There is a storage shed out behind the store." He reached behind the counter and took out a key. "If you'll just lock it up again when you're finished."

Joshua accepted the key with a nod and pulled Sally behind him out towards the shed. While Sally didn't know exactly what was going to happen, she knew her grandfather was very angry and she threw her body backwards, dragging her feet and resisting her grandfather's forward motion.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She called over and over trying to keep from ending up in the shed.

Joshua turned and putting an arm around her waist, sat her on his hip, facing out and continued on into the alley.

Ben watched them go and when Ruth took a step forward as if to stop her father, he steered her out to the covered walk in front of the store and sat her down on the bench.

"We'll be out here, Jim."

Mr. Mason waved and turned back to work.

"Stop struggling, or I'll spank you right here." Trying to hold on to a fighting child and unlocking the door was proving to be quite a challenge.

When Sally heard the word spank, her struggles increased. The spanking from Adam had been bad and she didn't want a spanking from her grandfather. When the struggles increased, Joshua put the key in his coat pocket, flipped Sally over his other hip and landed five smacks on her backside.

"Stop struggling!"

He put her on her feet and reached for the key in his pocket, but before it was out, Sally tried to run. He grabbed her shoulders and going down on one knee, he bent her over his knee and started spanking with purpose. This time he didn't stop until she was crying. Joshua kept her in that position until the crying quieted. He knew that the ten smacks he had landed on her well-protected backside had stung but he knew that most of the wailing was theatrics. This was just another tantrum in a long history of tantrums.

"If I let you up, will you stay put?"

Sally continued to sniffle and didn't answer.

"Sally, I _am_ going to spank you. If you run, it can be out here on the street where anyone can watch, or it can be inside the shed where it will just be between you and me. Now, if I let you up, are you going to stay put or not?"

"I'll stay; I'll stay." Sally said urgently.

Placing Sally back on her feet and standing up, Joshua pulled the key from his pocket. He herded Sally up to the shed trapping her between his body and the door and opened the lock. The shed had a window, so he closed the door behind them and taking her hand he walked over to a crate that looked like it would support their combined weight.

He sat down and pulled Sally between his knees.

"Sally, from now on, when you misbehave you are going to be punished."

With those words, Sally burst into a loud wail.

"Cry as much as you want," he said coldly in a voice loud enough to be heard over the crying. "It is not going to change what is going to happen. I suggest you save your tears."

Sally stopped wailing, but the tears kept coming.

"Listen to me." He said, pointing his finger at her. "I will not have a poorly behaved granddaughter any more. You knew that stealing that horse was wrong and you did it anyway. Then, you don't even feel sorry. That ends now."

With those words, Joshua tipped Sally over his knee and pulled up her dress and petticoats.

"You are being spanked for stealing that horse and for not apologizing."

Joshua started spanking, making sure that he covered every inch of her backside. He had never had to spank Ruth, so the only experience he had had with spanking was from the other side. He didn't want to be harsh with her, but he also didn't want to be too easy on her either. He tried to make the spanks firm and sting enough to give Sally a good reason to be sorry she had stolen. At first Sally struggled, but after the twelfth spank she began to cry real tears. Three spanks later, Joshua stopped. He put her on her feet and placed his hands on her hips waiting for her to stop crying.

When the crying started to slow, Joshua demanded, "Why were you spanked?"

"Because I st-stole the horse," Sally said haltingly.

"Are you sorry enough to go in and apologize properly?"

"Yes," Sally said sniffling.

"Good, then let's go." Joshua took her by the hand and led her back out of the shed locking the door behind him.

Sally and Joshua walked back into the store and Joshua put the key on the counter top as Mr. Mason came out of the storeroom. He felt compassion for the little girl who was rubbing her bottom and had tears on her face, so he walked over and took her hand leading her over to a chair, he sat down and turned her to face him, taking both of her hands in his. He sat that way, not saying anything, waiting for her to speak. Ben and Ruth came back into the store and stood in the doorway.

"Sally," Joshua said forcefully.

"I'm sorry I took the horse. I know it was wrong to steal. Sorry." She said. She turned to look at Joshua, but he just frowned at her. Ben saw this and frowned himself. He resolved to have a talk with Joshua about how to handle a child after she had been punished. He had learned a thing or two about that from Adam, but now was not the time to intrude.

"I accept your apology. I'm sorry your grandpa spanked you, but hopefully that'll help you remember you should never steal again, right?"

Sally nodded.

"Good girl. Okay," Mr. Mason stood and again offered his hand to Joshua. "Mr. Brown."

This time Joshua took his hand and shook it. "We'll be back tomorrow to work off the debt to you."

"That's not necessary."

"Yes, it is."

"Tomorrow then," said Mr. Mason.

Joshua then took Sally's hand and led her out to the buggy.

"Ben," Mr. Mason nodded at him. They held each other's glance for just a moment sharing an understanding that Joshua might need a little guidance in how to raise children and making a silent pledge to help both Sally and Joshua.

"Jim," he said and turned to take Ruth back to the buggy.

TBC


	10. Lizzie's turn

Adam and Lizzie continued past the stopped buggy and headed off towards The Ponderosa.

"Why are they going back to town?" Asked Lizzie, she turned to try and look at her father.

"I don't know. If your grandpa had wanted us to know, he would have told us, so there will be no questioning when they get home. Understand?"

Yes," sighed Lizzie. There really was no one to ask except Sally and Lizzie wasn't so sure she wanted to have anything to do with Sally.

"I mean it, young lady. You are not to try and find out why they went back to town. Hear me?" Adam said speaking directly into her ear.

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie sighed again, leaning back into his chest.

They had one last gallop before walking into the yard at the house. Adam dismounted and lifted Lizzie from the saddle. Putting her on her feet, he said, "I want all your chores done before dinner, but if you hurry there is probably time to do chores and play. Chores first, right? And stay within calling distance."

Lizzie nodded and ran off to get the animals watered and do all the other end of the day chores that she was supposed to do. She did want a little time to play, today had been fun, but she had not had a lot of time to run around outside. She also didn't want to be around when Sally came home. She had had enough Sally for the day.

Adam took Beauty to the barn and after getting her brushed and settled he started on his own chores, when he came out of the barn and headed towards the house he took a quick look around for Lizzie, but figured she was out behind the house climbing trees or watching the birds. He headed in to the house taking a bridle that needed to be oiled and had settled down near in his favorite spot near the fireplace. He had worked the oil in and was checking the integrity of the leather when Little Joe came in with Hoss.

"Adam, did you give Lizzie permission to go down near the river? Didn't you hear me tell Pa that it was running pretty high from the snow melt?" Little Joe asked.

Adam looked up at Joe and Hoss and said, "No, I certainly did not give her permission. I told her to stay within calling distance."

"Well, Hoss and I saw her walking up the road from the river, so I assume she was down there."

Adam started to stand when Lizzie walked though the door.

"Hello, Uncle Joe. Hello, Uncle Hoss." Lizzie chirped.

"Where've you been, Lizzie?" Adam asked casually.

"Out playing, you said I could."

"Playing where?" Adam asked meeting her eye.

"Behind the house," Lizzie said a little less brightly.

"Lizzie, do you know what a lie of omission is?" Adam asked seriously, not taking his eyes away from hers.

"No."

"A lie of omission is when you omit, or leave out, important facts when someone asks you a question. Everything that is coming out of your mouth is the truth but you are really being deceitful because you aren't telling the _whole_ truth. In my eyes, a lie of omission is just as bad as a bold face lie. So, I am going to ask you again. Where have you been?"

Lizzie blushed and looked down before saying very quietly," Looking at the river."

"Alright, wait for me in your room," Adam said softly.

Lizzie walked slowly up the stairs and the three men watched her go, their faces both sad and grim.

"Hoss, Cochise may have picked up a stone, do you think you can look at his foot for me?"

"Sure little brother," Hoss glanced quickly at Adam before turning to follow Joe out of the house.

As Hoss and Joe turned to go, Adam said, "Just like rats leaving a sinking ship."

Hoss turned and said, "Ah, no, Adam the ship ain't sinking. It just needs a course correction is all. Little Joe and I are going to give you and Lizzie a little privacy to do that."

Adam watched his brothers leave and realized that they both knew what was going to happen and would do exactly what he was going to do if they were in his place. They had all seen too many children maimed or killed because of disobedience to let Lizzie get away with anything like this. They loved her too much. There were so many dangers out west that lurked around every corner and the whole family supported Adam's punishing Lizzie when she did something dangerous. They would voice their opinions to him privately when they thought he was being too harsh or too easy on her, but they provided a united front behind Adam when Lizzie was around.

Adam's father and brothers and even Hop Sing enforced the rules that Adam set forth. They corrected and disciplined Lizzie with his blessing when Adam wasn't around. They always made sure that Adam was aware of what she had done and how they had handled it, but when it came to the big things Adam took care of it. They would come and tell him what Lizzie had done or make her confess it to him. They never hid anything from him and Adam realized although he had their support, they really didn't want to be witness to Lizzie being spanked.

There was not a single thing that Adam regretted about being Lizzie's father. He had struggled at first with the girlie things that his wife had taken care of: hairdos and ribbons and unknowable upsets that little girls were subject to on occasion. Being the son of a single father with only brothers had been a bit of a handicap, but now, after four years, he was adjusting and felt things went pretty smoothly. He had always been the disciplinarian and he didn't regret that either. He knew it was a part of fatherhood and he embraced it; trying his best to make her feel loved and cared for even when she ended up over his lap.

Frankly, Adam had always thought that the spanking itself would be the hardest part of punishing her, but it was what happened afterward that was the most difficult. Lizzie always ran to him with her upsets and disappointments letting him sooth and comfort her, but not after a spanking. After a spanking, Lizzie pulled away. She didn't want him to touch her or comfort her. The first time it had happened, Adam had turned to his father for answers.

"She is her father's daughter," He had said. "When you were a boy and I tanned you, you did the same thing. You became distant. I worried that you were angry with me for tanning you, but I eventually realized that you were just trying to get what happened straight in your head. You sat next to me on the wagon, were respectful and did as I asked; you were just quiet for a while. I think the tanning was not as hard on you as the idea that you had misbehaved badly enough to warrant one."

The first time Lizzie had pulled away, Adam had reached out to her to try and pull her close. She had just gotten as far from him as she could. Adam had not felt comfortable just leaving her, so he moved as far away from her in the room as he could and waited. Eventually she had come to him and they had mended fences. Now, when Lizzie retreated, Adam just gave her time and she had always come to him. Adam hoped the same would always be true. Having put himself in the mental frame of mind he needed, Adam blew out a breath of air, stood and went up the stairs. He didn't want to keep her waiting any longer than he had to.

Adam knocked at Lizzie's door and let himself in. He saw Lizzie sitting on the bed, leaning against the headboard with her knees drawn up to her chin. She wasn't crying, but she was on the verge. Adam sat at the foot of the bed and began to smooth the wrinkles in the coverlet, watching his hand move back and forth.

"You broke a pretty big rule today, not staying within calling distance of the house." He started. "Is always telling someone where you are going to be if you are farther from the house than calling distance a Lizzie rule or an everybody rule?"

"Everybody rule." Lizzie whispered after a moment, watching her papa's hand smooth back and forth on the coverlet.

"Why is that an everybody rule?"

"So, if something happens and you don't come back home when you should everybody will know where to start looking."

"That's right. Nobody in this family, not me, not your grandpa, not your Uncle Hoss, not your Uncle Joe and not even Hop Sing ever goes farther than calling distance without making sure someone knows where they are going to be."

"I was within calling distance, if Grandpa had called, I would have heard him," Lizzie suggested with a little bit of whine in her voice.

"Grandpa was not here and if I had stood out behind the house and called, would you have heard me?" Adam questioned. He didn't mind Lizzie challenging him a little and trying to avoid being spanked as long as she was respectful. When it came time for the spanking, Adam wanted Lizzie to feel that she deserved it; that he had answered all the reasons why she felt maybe she shouldn't be spanked.

"I don't know," she said.

"Lizzie," Adam said in a low voice and shook his head once.

"Probably not," she conceded.

"Probably not," he echoed. "The other thing you did wrong was to go down to the river. I told you this morning it was dangerous."

"I didn't go all the way down to the river," she protested. "I was on the rocks up above the bank."

"Lizzie, if you thought that was alright, why didn't you just tell me that when I asked you where you were?"

Lizzie didn't answer and Adam motioned with the hand that had been smoothing the coverlet for her to come to him. He stood and walked over to the desk turning around the chair that stood before it. He left his hand out, motioning with his fingers for her to come to him as he sat down.

Tears started down Lizzie's cheeks, but she scooted over to the edge of the bed and walked over to where he sat. Adam picked up her hands and drew her close to him.

Looking directly into her eyes and stroking her hands with his thumbs he said, "I am your papa and I love you very much. It is part of my job as your papa to keep you safe and protected. One of the ways I do that is to make rules that I think will keep you safe. I trust you to follow those rules. Another way I try to keep you safe and protected is by saying no to those things that I think are dangerous. I expect you to mind me when I say no. You didn't do either of those things very well today and that is why we are here."

"I'm sorry, Papa." Lizzie said tearfully.

"I'm sorry too." He said. "I hate having to spank you, but you broke two really big rules today and I want you to remember that every single time you break either of those rules, we are going to end up right back here." Adam paused. "Is there anything else you want to say?"

Lizzie shook her head.

Adam dropped Lizzie's hands and hooking a hand in the waistband of her trousers, he began undoing the buttons. When Adam was a boy, his father had expected Adam to drop his own trousers and bend over to be tanned. All Adam wanted from Lizzie was for her to not resist. Undoing the last button, Adam pulled her around to his right side and pushed her pants down before pulling her up over his lap. Adam placed his left hand on Lizzie's back and brought his right hand down with a loud thump.

When Adam spanked Lizzie he didn't raise welts or bruises, but he wanted it to be firm enough that she would want to avoid being spanked in the future. Adam always hoped that the spanking he was administering would be the last. Adam was willing to spank if he had to, but he hoped it served as punishment for current misbehavior, as well as, a deterrent from future misbehavior. He had been spanked as a child and believed it had helped him stay out of a lot of trouble. He hoped the same would be true of Lizzie. He could never understand those boys who had said the licking was worth it. While he knew his own pa was no harder on him than the other boys' fathers, none of the things he had gotten in trouble for had been worth one of Pa's tannings.

Because Lizzie was usually crying before she went over his lap, he couldn't use the tears as a gauge for when to stop spanking as he had with Sally. He delivered ten crisp spanks to the middle of her backside, paused a moment and then landed another three to each side, before pulling her trousers back up. He put her on her feet between his knees, keeping his hands on her hips to be sure she was steady on her feet. When she started to pull away, he let her and when she had retreated to the opposite wall, Adam stood and went to sit in the rocking chair by the window to wait.

Lizzie cried softly: seemingly unaware of Adam. The time dragged by for Adam as he watched Lizzie and listened to her crying turn to hitched sobbing. Still he waited. He had found over the years that it was totally unpredictable when she would come to him, at times he had barely sat down in the rocking chair, at others, he found himself waiting longer than he would have liked. Today was a long wait, but she did finally come to him. He allowed her to take the lead and today she put herself in almost the same position she had been in when he had spanked her: bent over his right knee with her head resting on his left. She had her faced turned from him, so he stroked her hair, let his hand rest on her back and waited some more. When she finally stood up and looked at him, Adam had to resist the urge to grab on and hold her. She stood between his knees and slowly put her arms around him, resting her head on his chest. Adam bent forward to return the hug as gently as he could. With that, Lizzie climbed up into his lap and let herself be rocked and comforted. She didn't say anything and neither did he; they just rocked.


	11. Chinese checkers

Adam continued rocking Lizzie and as usually happened the tears stopped and she fell asleep. Adam stood quietly and put her softly on the bed face down and crept out of the room. He closed the door behind him and breathed a sigh of relief that the spanking was over. He walked back down the stairs, and after putting a pillow on Lizzie's chair; he picked up the bridle and got back to work. He had been at it for about 10 minutes when Hoss opened the door and peered around it.

"All clear?"

"Yes, all clear." Adam frowned at him. He put his head in his hand.

Hoss turned and motioned to Little Joe to come in. "You did what you had to do, Adam. We both know that. We just both care about that little gal and well when she gets herself in to trouble…well, you know." He said as he walked over to Adam's chair.

"I do know, Hoss. I feel exactly the same way, except I can't go and hide out in the barn until it's over." Adam said looking up at his brother with a sad half smile.

"No, I expect you can't," Hoss clapped him on the shoulder and smiled sympathetically. "Come on Joe, what do you say to a game of checkers before supper?"

Hoss threw himself on the couch and Joe took a seat on the table by the board. Adam watched for a while before starting to work on the bridle again. They were settled into quiet concentration when the door opened and Joshua came in dragging Sally, with Ben and Ruth coming in behind him.

"Ruth, you and I need to go for a little walk." Joshua said firmly. "Sally, I want you up in your room. Mr. Cartwright is in charge, if that's alright with you, Ben, and if I hear about you misbehaving, I'll spank you again." He jerked her arm a little to emphasize his words.

Ben walked around to stand in front of Joshua. Reaching out he put an arm around Sally and pulled her towards him. "Ah, Sally will be a good girl, I'm sure. There'll be no need for another spanking. Right, Sally? We'll be just fine." He spoke reassuringly and stroked her arm. Keeping an arm around her shoulders, he walked her up the stairs. She walked with him, stopping at the foot of the stairs to look back at her grandpa. Ben looked back at Joshua too. He saw only a frowning face. He patted Sally's arm again and kept his arm firmly around her shoulders.

At her father's words, Ruth had blushed beet red. Those were the same words that he had always used when she had misbehaved as a girl. Her father would take her out on a walk and scold her for whatever she had done. She had never gone out on a walk without knowing what it was that he was angry about and she had never come back from a walk without feeling very sorry for her behavior. This time was no different. She knew exactly what he was going to say and she was already sorry.

Adam, Hoss and Joe watched Ruth follow her father out of the door and then glanced at their own father taking Sally upstairs.

"What got into Joshua?" Asked Joe, looking at his brothers.

"I don't know," said Adam steepling his fingers. "Something must have happened in town. They had to turn back for some reason. I suspect Sally did something to make Joshua angry." Adam frowned. He had thought Sally needed a firm hand, but Joshua seemed to be taking it a bit far.

Ben walked Sally to her room and sat down on the bed. He reached out and stroked her arms up and down.

"Are you alright up here by yourself? We put some picture books on the desk over there and you can look out the window if you want to. I think you can see the palomino from here. He likes to run around in the late afternoon. Puts on quite a show." Ben smiled and nodded.

"Your grandpa wants you to think about what happened today. That's why he wants you up here in your room. Do you think you can do that?" Ben said seriously. He stopped stroking her arms and reached out to cup her face in his hands. "I know it's hard to be punished and then have to think about what you did that was naughty. Your grandpa loves you. He is just trying to help you be a better-behaved girl." Ben reached out to push her Sally's hair out of her eyes before standing. He stopped for a moment to look at the little girl who was staring at the floor before leaving the room.

Ben walked down the stairs and felt the eyes of all his sons looking at him. He took a pillow from the couch and went to the dining room table and placed it on Sally's chair, then walked over to his chair by the fireplace and sat down. He folded his hands in his lap and looked at the fire.

"What happened in town, Pa?" Little Joe finally asked.

Ben sighed before answering. "Well, Sally behaved atrociously the whole day and finally ended up stealing a toy from the mercantile. We went back to town so that she could return it and Joshua spanked her for stealing and not apologizing."

"Was he too hard on her, Pa?" Asked Adam.

"No, I don't think he was too hard on her, but he made her sit next to him on the ride home, sit mind you, after a spanking, and has been gruff with her ever since. You saw how he was just now. I fear he is trying to make up for eight years of letting her get away with things too quickly. I'll talk to him tonight. I don't want you boys mentioning anything."

They all nodded and tried to return to what they had been doing, but they all eventually ended up staring at the fire and thinking about Sally.

Joshua and Ruth walked out into the yard and headed down the trail to the lake, they walked silently for a little while before Joshua said, "I think I owe you an apology, Ruth."

"Why, Pa?" Ruth asked surprised.

"I should have helped you raise that little girl. I feel like the fact that she is poorly behaved is my fault. You were barely more than a girl yourself when you gave birth to her. I shouldn't have expected you to do it all yourself. I aim to change that. I never thought I would be parenting another child, but I expect whether or not I expected it, I am a father to that child. I intend to learn everything I can from Ben and Adam and I'm going to do my best to raise Sally to be a good woman. You're going to have to do your part too. I'm willing to play the part of disciplinarian, but she can't come running to you for sympathy." Joshua stopped talking and turned to Ruth taking her arms in his hands. "Your defense of her stealing was downright embarrassing today. Whatever possessed you to defend her like that?"

"Pa, I…" Ruth started and then went silent.

"I need an answer, Ruth," Joshua demanded.

"I just feel so bad for her and guilty I guess." Ruth started again. "I feel like she should have had a father, a real father. I should never have trusted Jack to marry me. It's just not right that she should suffer for my mistake. I feel like I owe her something that I can never repay." Eight years of bottled up words exploded out of Ruth. "I am ashamed. I know you're ashamed of me too." Ruth started to cry.

Joshua was taken aback at those words. He had always blamed Jack for the situation that Ruth found herself in. "Ruth, I never blamed you for what happened. Yes, you should never have given yourself to Jack like that, but he seduced you and left you. I'm sorry if I ever made you feel that I was ashamed."

Joshua stopped and took a deep breath. He let go of Ruth's arms and put his arms around her. He rarely hugged her. He was stand offish by nature, but having spent the day around the Cartwrights, he realized touching his girls was something else he was going to have to learn to do.

He felt awkward, but he kept his arms around her as he said, "Things are going to have to change. Lizzie doesn't have a mother, but Adam doesn't let her misbehave because of that. We can't let Sally misbehave just because she doesn't have a father. If anything, she is better off than Lizzie. She has a mother and a grandpa. You're going to have to grow up, Ruth. You're going to have to start acting like her mother."

Ruth nodded. "I know, Pa, and I will."

Joshua took his arms from around her and they walked back to the house side by side.

As they walked through the door, Hop Sing came out of the kitchen clapping his hands. "Supper time, you go get ready." Everyone stood and went to wash up. Adam went up the stairs to Lizzie's room.

He opened the door without knocking and found her awake and lying on her side looking out the window.

"Time for supper, honey," he said warmly.

"I'm not very hungry. Can I stay up here?" She asked without turning around.

Adam sat on the bed and patted her hip.

"I think you know what I am going to say." Adam waited a moment. "You're expected at the table even after you've been punished, not to mention the fact that we have guests. Come on. Let's wash your face and comb your hair."

He patted her hip again and waited for her to get up before walking over to the washstand and getting a damp cloth. He gently wiped the tearstains off her face and picked up her comb to restore her princess style hairdo. He placed her between him and the washbasin and putting her hands in the basin he used his hands to wash hers. After washing his own, he dried them and taking her hand, he walked her down the stairs. His father and brothers were already at the table and the food was on the table. Lizzie blushed and ducked her head when she saw the pillow, but she climbed into her chair and sat down carefully. Joshua, Ruth and Sally joined them shortly thereafter. They began the meal in silence, but Adam finally spoke.

"So, we went to the restaurant in town today. Lizzie and I wanted to try out the new cook. Tell them what you had, Lizzie."

"Gumbo," she said.

Lizzie had taken small servings of everything, but as she talked Adam slipped a couple of spoonfuls of green beans onto her plate. He knew that she liked those. She looked sideways at her father, but he just gestured for her to keep talking and smiled.

"It had green things in it. What were they called, Papa?'

"Okra," he said as he put a small piece of chicken on Lizzie's plate.

"Hey, I remember okra," said Little Joe. "What was the name of that widow that lived next to us in New Orleans? Boiled everything?"

"Mrs. Dubois," Ben said in a low voice, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, that was it, Mrs. Dubois." Joe laughed. "I remember we used to have to go to her house and choke down all that boiled food and okra; she had boiled okra with every meal: slimy, nasty stuff."

"She was the one I was telling you about, Lizzie," laughed Adam. He nudged her with his arm. "Lizzie liked the okra in the gumbo, but I told her how it wasn't very good boiled. I dreaded going over to her house for dinner knowing that there was going to be boiled okra. I never hated the clean plate rule as much as I did at Mrs. Dubois's."

"You hated the clean plate rule? I was the pa and had to set a good example for you boys. In addition, I had to compliment that woman on her cooking," laughed Ben. "I accepted her invitations as infrequently as I could. She was a kind, sweet woman, but she could not cook!"

"I thought she was a fine cook," said Hoss.

"You never met a meal you didn't like Hoss," teased Little Joe.

Hoss smiled and kept eating. Everyone else laughed except Sally. She kept her head down and didn't stop eating.

"How about you, Sally. Have you ever had to eat slimy okra?" Adam asked, raising his eyebrows.

When she didn't respond immediately, Joshua said sternly, "You were asked a question, Sally. Answer Adam."

Sally looked up with sad eyes, "No," then went back to eating.

When supper was finished and the table was cleared, Adam said, "Grab some pillows girls. I intend to beat every one of you at Chinese checkers."

Lizzie smiled and ran over to the couch to get a pillow. Sally, who was seated next to her mother on the couch didn't move.

"You too, Sally. I'll bet I can beat you at Chinese checkers too." Adam said encouragingly. "Come on now. It'll be fun," he said when she didn't move. He pulled a pillow off the couch and took her hand pulling her over to the floor near the fire. He pulled the red chair up close to the table, putting himself between the girls. He didn't want a repeat of the other night.

"How about you, Ruth? The game is open to everyone."

"No, thank you, Adam. I'll just work on my embroidery and watch."

"Have you ever played Chinese checkers before, Sally?" He asked brightly turning to Sally. "It's Lizzie's favorite game." He then proceeded to tell her the rules and how to play.

Joshua had gone out to the porch after supper and Ben had followed him. They sat staring at the stars for a while.

"I was never very close to my father," Ben said. "We always kept a sort of distance between us. It was never worse than when he had tanned me. I guess he wanted to give me some distance so that I could lick my wounds. It left to me feeling especially awkward around him for a while. Don't get me wrong, he was a good man and I know he cared about my brothers and me. We just weren't very close. He taught me to do things and watched over me, but I could never really confide in him. I guess I was sort of the same way with my own boys. I wanted them to respect me and obey me. I watch Adam and I am glad that he is not following in my father's or my footsteps in that regard. He is very close to Lizzie and when he spanks her, I think he gets even closer."

"What are you trying to tell me, Ben?"

"Adam spanked Lizzie today."

"For what? How do you know?"

"I don't know, but I saw the pillow on her chair when I was putting one on Sally's. Now Adam is in there playing Chinese checkers. It is not a game he particularly enjoys, but it is Lizzie's favorite game and he will play it with her when she asks. Tonight he suggested it."

They both turned to look in the window at Adam and the girls.

"Hey, you have more marbles in the triangle," Sally yelled. She reached out to upset the board, but Adam grabbed her hands before she could do it.

"I am going to wear that child out," Joshua said and started to rise.

Ben laid a hand on Joshua's arm and said, "Let's watch to see how Adam handles it."

Adam pushed his chair back and pulled Sally into his lap.

Releasing her hands and putting his arms around her, he said softly, "Sally, when you play with others you take the chance that you might lose. That's part of what makes is fun. It's not as much fun if you always win."

"I always win or I don't play."

"Well, Lizzie and I want you to play with us, but we are all trying to win. So, if you don't want to play if you might not win, we'll just take your marbles off the board and you can go play by yourself. What do you want to do?"

Sally was quiet for a long moment. She looked up at her mother, Ruth, who had stopped embroidering and then she turned to look up at Adam.

"If you decide to keep playing with us, there will be no tantrums if you don't win."

"I want to keep playing with you," she said slowly.

"Good! Will you promise no tantrums?"

"Promise," Sally said.

"I know you are a good girl and are going to keep that promise, especially since I am going to win."

Lizzie laughed and when Sally saw her laughing, she joined in. Adam put her back on her pillow, scooted the chair forward and asked, "Whose turn is it?'


	12. Trying to make changes

Joshua sat back as he saw Adam stop Sally's tantrum with a few words.

"I don't know what to do, Ben. I don't know how to do what Adam does."

"Joshua, did you notice how well behaved Sally was at the table tonight?"

"Of course she was well behaved." He said in an exasperated voice. "She was spanked this afternoon and was afraid that I was going to spank her again."

"Regardless of the reason, she ate her dinner without complaints about the size or shape things were cut into. She even finished everything on her plate. That was a huge improvement from yesterday when we had lunch and she wanted triangular pieces and it was even an improvement over today's lunch when she would only eat chocolate cake." Ben explained patiently.

"Granted," Joshua said hesitantly.

"So, Adam would have noticed and commented on that if it had been Lizzie. He would have made a special point of it if she had just been punished. I suspect that if he is true to form, he will mention to Lizzie all the things she did right today. You and I had fathers who felt it was their job to point out when we had misbehaved and bring us up short. I brought my boys up that way too. I felt my job was to keep them on the straight and narrow. When they did as they should, I didn't feel that any comment was necessary, they were just supposed to know that I was pleased. Adam makes sure Lizzie knows that he has noticed her behaving well by telling her." Ben paused. He didn't want his friend to feel like he was lecturing him. He smiled an embarrassed smile, shrugged and asked, "If I may be so bold as to go on?"

"Yes, Ben. I would appreciate any advice that you can give me." Joshua folded his arms across his chest. He found himself getting a bit defensive, but he reminded himself that he had asked for the advice.

"He also tells her how he wants her to behave. He just did that with Sally. He told her no tantrums if she doesn't win and got her to agree. I think you'll get a lot farther with Sally if you do the same thing. Compliment her when she behaves and tell her ahead of time how you hope she'll act, without the threat of punishment. Like I said earlier in the store, all of this is new to her. She doesn't know what you expect from her since you are treating her differently than she is used to being treated. Give her a little bit of time to mind you; she has eight years of having her own way to overcome." He paused. "Talk to Adam, I think he can probably give you some idea of things that have worked with Lizzie."

Joshua nodded. "I'll try…so what do I do now?"

"Tonight when you tuck her into bed, tell her you forgive her for stealing and that you love her and right now, I think you need to go in the house and try to beat everyone at Chinese checkers." Ben pointed in the house.

"I don't usually get involved at bedtime. Ruth does all that."

"Well, tonight you should start. Read her a story, rock her to sleep, do something that will let her know that she's forgiven and you are starting fresh; you don't hold grudges. She's been punished. Let her know it's over. Now, go sit next to her and play."

Joshua stared out into the yard for a long moment, then stood up and walked into the house.

"What does a grandpa have to do to get in on a Chinese checkers game?" He asked in an overly cheerful voice.

Ben peered in the window and watched Joshua grab a pillow. He winced as he watched Joshua settle slowly and painfully down on the floor next to Sally. He nodded to himself. It was a good start.

"Well, Mr. Brown, if you are in the mood for a sound trouncing, I'll be finished with these two in just a minute." Adam teased, gesturing at the girls.

"You haven't won yet, Papa. Sally and I both have only one more marble to move. You have two."

"You doubt my abilities?" He clutched his chest dramatically.

Everyone laughed and in the end, Lizzie won the game.

Adam sent a quick glance towards Sally before saying, "Well, I can be a gracious loser. How about you, Sally?" He reached over and rubbed her back.

Congratulations, Lizzie," said Sally and looked up at Adam. He met her eyes warmly, nodded and smiled. "Well, I demand a rematch and Mr. Brown wants to play."

Joshua could hardly believe what had just happened: Sally had lost a game and not thrown a fit. She had even congratulated Lizzie. He would hardly hold back all the questions that were forming in his mind to ask Adam.

Two games later with a win for both Adam and Sally, Adam announced it was bedtime. Lizzie stood up and reached for Adam's hand.

Ruth also stood and took Sally's hand, "Bedtime for you too, Sally," she said.

"I wanna stay up," she whined.

"Sally," Joshua growled, but after meeting a slight frown from Adam he softened his voice and said, "Go upstairs and I'll be up in a bit to read you a story." He reached onto the table and picked up Lizzie's book of fairy tales.

"But…" Lizzie started.

I'm sorry, Lizzie, were you reading this book?" He held it out to her.

"It's fine, Joshua. Lizzie has lots of other books we can read from, isn't that true, Lizzie?" Adam looked down at her sternly.

Recognizing the look that Adam was giving her, she replied sadly, "Yes."

Joshua sat on the couch as Ruth and Adam took the girls upstairs. He leafed through the book trying to find a story that both he and Sally would enjoy. Many of them he didn't recognize. He couldn't remember ever having read to Ruth when she was a child. He thought maybe he should be grateful he was getting a second chance with Sally. After finding just the right story, he walked up the stairs, leafing through the book and wondering about maybe trying different voices for the characters.

As he was passing Lizzie's room he heard her say, "I shouldn't have gone down to the river today." Joshua stopped to listen through the cracked door.

"You're right, you shouldn't have."

"I really just wanted to see the flood."

"Then why didn't you ask? I probably could have found a way to show you the river safely." Joshua watched Adam through the crack in the door as Adam smoothed Lizzie's hair.

"I didn't mean to be bad. I'm sorry I disobeyed you and you had to spank me. I don't like being spanked." Lizzie said in an embarrassed voice.

"Well, we did hit a bit of a rough patch, that's true, but you weren't bad, just naughty. You're a smart girl. You'll learn from the spanking. You aren't going to make those same mistakes again, right? You'll tell someone where you are going and you'll mind me when I say no."

"I'll be a good girl," Lizzie promised, nodding.

"You are already a good girl. You did lots of things I was really proud of today. You apologized to Sally and you accepted her apology. You helped Hop Sing can the vegetables. You didn't give me a hard time about riding Beauty into town instead of taking Blaze. You tried gumbo. You didn't fight with Sally over the candy and tonight you even let her play Chinese checkers with us."

"I felt sorry for her," Lizzie said. "I think her grandpa spanked her," she whispered, putting her hand up to her mouth like she was telling a secret.

"Maybe," Adam said thoughtfully. "It was still very kind of you to let her play considering how she has acted towards you. You were forgiving and compassionate. Those are both very good qualities to have and I am proud that you are my daughter. Now let's see what kind of story we can find for tonight." Joshua heard Adam stand and not wanting to be caught listening in the hallway, he went to Sally's room. Ben was right, he thought. He made a mental list of the things Sally had done right today.

"Ready for a story?" He asked finding Sally in bed. "Ruth, why don't you say goodnight now and I'll read Sally a story and put out the light."

"Alright, Pa." Ruth said hesitantly. "Good night, Sally. See you in the morning." She leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.

"Night, Mama," Sally said quietly. She looked up at her grandpa with some trepidation. She wasn't sure if he was still angry at her. She was afraid that he might spank her for not wanting to go to bed.

Ruth shared Sally's concerns, but slowly left the room, looking over her shoulder.

Joshua sat on the bed and then used his hip to slide Sally over. Leaving the book in his lap he put an arm around her shoulders.

"You did a good job at dinner tonight," he said, keeping his eyes focused on the book in his lap.

"Huh?" Asked Sally, looking up at him.

"Tonight," he said lamely. "You ate everything on your plate and didn't complain. Good girl," Joshua patted her arm stiffly twice before taking his arm from around her and reaching for the book.

"I thought I would read you the story of the Two Sisters. Lizzie is letting us use her fairy tale book tonight." He launched into the story quickly to cover his uncomfortableness and decided against trying any voices tonight.

TBC


	13. Adam's tough morning

Adam had risen early and gotten dressed so that he could stop by Lizzie's room and help her get ready for the day. As he passed Sally and Ruth's room, he heard Sally through the partially opened door.

"You did that on purpose. You pulled my hair on purpose. " Sally screamed at her mother.

Adam turned and pushed the door the rest of the way open.

"Do you intend to allow your daughter to speak to you that way?" Adam asked. Adam met Ruth's eyes for the briefest of moments before allowing them to flicker to the hairbrush in her hand. Ruth realized what Adam thought she should do a fraction of an instant before Sally and brought the brush down with two resounding cracks on Sally's bottom. Sally tried to twist away, but she was too late and Ruth's aim was true.

"Ow, Mama," Sally complained.

"You are not allowed to speak to me that way," Ruth said quietly without much conviction.

"Ruth, I think Sally can finish her own hair, don't you? Seeing as how she feels you are doing such a poor job." He reached out his hand to her, took the hairbrush from her hand and set it on the dresser, never once glancing at Sally. He then tucked Ruth's arm under his and led her out into the hallway, closing the door behind him.

He led her to the top of the stairs and said, "I'll be down in just a moment; I need to check on Lizzie." He held out his arm guiding her down the first step before turning to go back to Lizzie's room. Ruth looked at him unsure for a moment, but when she saw his nod, she walked the rest of the way down the stairs to the dining room table.

Lizzie was up, but only half dressed.

"Need some help?" Adam asked as he came into the room.

Lizzie nodded.

"Yes, please," she said.

Adam smiled as he tucked her shirt into her trousers. He picked her up to put her on the bed. After putting her socks and boots on for her, he picked up her hairbrush to put her hair up in a ponytail.

"Remember, you aren't to leave the house today. No going outside without an adult." He said, continuing to brush out the knots.

"But Papa," Lizzie whined.

"When you show me that you can follow the rules, I'll let you have your freedom back. Right now, the rule is you are not to be outside without an adult. You show me you can do that consistently, without complaining," he pointed at her reflection in the mirror with the brush, "and we'll go back to the calling distance rule."

"What about chores?" She asked hopefully.

"I'll be around this morning and this afternoon, you will wait until I get home."

"But it'll be boring inside all day!" Lizzie whined again. "Can't I just go out in the yard? I promise I won't go any farther."

"I'll make a list of things I expect you to do inside the house to keep you from being bored."

"But, that's…"

"Yes?" Adam interrupted raising an eyebrow. He guided Lizzie off the bed by the arm keeping the hairbrush in his hand. "Did you want to add something?"

Lizzie eyed the hairbrush and said, "No," with just the slightest bit of a huff.

"I beg your pardon?" Adam said in a low growl.

"No, Sir," she said resignedly, eying the hairbrush again.

"Good girl," he said putting the brush firmly on the dresser and letting go of her arm.

Lizzie preceded Adam out of the door and as they were walking down the hallway, they heard a crash from Sally's room.

"You go on downstairs, honey. Tell everyone to go ahead and get started, Sally and I'll be there in a minute."

Adam walked into Sally's room to a flurry of clothes coming out of the trunk. The bedclothes were on the floor and everything that had been on the dresser was on the floor.

Adam pulled the chair out from the desk and sat down extending his legs and crossing his arms in much the same way he had the night of Sally's arrival. Sally stopped and looked at Adam with a frown, but stopped pulling the clothes out of the trunk.

"Problem?" He asked raising his eyebrows and glancing about the room.

"I can't do my hair," she shouted at him angrily.

"Well, then maybe you shouldn't have spoken so unkindly to your mother. She was doing a good job with your hair before you shouted at her." Adam leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and folding his hands.

"She pulled my hair," Sally said weakly.

"Do you think she did it on purpose?" He asked, looking her directly in the eye.

Sally stared at him a long moment and didn't answer. In an adult, Adam would have called the look withering, but in Sally he just saw it as a continuation of her tantrum.

"Sally do you really think your mama pulled your hair on purpose?" Adam demanded.

"No." she said with attitude.

"Then you shouldn't have shouted at her should you have?"

"No," Sally finally conceded.

"You know," he said. "I think you are a very smart girl and I think that you know you need to be polite to people when they are doing nice things for you, like fixing your hair. So, if you don't want to end up doing your own hair every morning, I suggest you start being nicer to your mama. Now, pick up this room and we'll go down to breakfast."

"What about my hair?" Sally whined. "I have to go work in the store today. I can't go with my hair like this." She waved her hands at the crooked part and uneven braids.

"Well, you'll either have to fix it yourself or maybe you could find someone who would be willing to help if you asked politely." Adam leaned over and picked the hairbrush up off the floor.

"Would you braid my hair for me?" Sally asked tentatively.

"I might, if I was asked politely." He kept his eyes on the brush as he turned it over slowly in his hands.

"Adam, would you please braid my hair for me?"

"I would be happy to as soon as this room is back in order." Adam leaned back in the chair and resumed his former stance: legs out and arms crossed. He kept the brush in his hand and watched Sally pick up the scattered clothes and put the things back on the dresser. When she started working on the bed, he stood and helped her get the sheets tucked in and the heavy coverlet arranged.

"Alright?" She asked tentatively when the bed was made.

"Alright," Adam said taking her by the shoulder and turning her around to face the mirror.

Adam took out the lopsided braids and brushed her hair until it was smooth, then he picked up her comb and made a straight part. He picked up the hair on one side and asked, "Do you want your ears to show or not?"

"No,"

"No…?" Adam waited to start braiding.

"No, thank you."

Adam immediately started braiding with those words.

"Do you have ribbons? He asked when he had both sides braided evenly.

"Yes, they're in the trunk."

"Alright," Adam stepped back so that Sally would know that she was supposed to go and get them out.

Sally came back from the trunk with two blue ribbons and facing Adam who had seated himself on the bed. She handed him one ribbon and then the other. Once the ribbons were tied, she started to step away from him, but Adam reached up, stopping her by putting his hands back on her shoulders.

"Remember what I said about being polite to people?' He asked.

"Thank you, Adam," she said with a sigh.

"You're welcome, Sally," he said sighing in return. Then offered her a big grin. "Come on we had better head down to breakfast before my big brother, Hoss, eats everything. You need to apologize to you mama first thing when we get downstairs. Do you understand?" He patted her on the back.

"Yes, Adam," Sally said walking out the door and rolling her eyes.

"Alright," Adam followed her out the door.

Breakfast was almost half over by the time they came down the stairs. Adam took his seat next to Lizzie and watched Sally sit down between her grandpa and mother.

Sally started to fill her plate from the dishes that were handed to her.

When she didn't apologize right away, Adam said sternly, "Sally do we need to go back upstairs for a chat?"

Lizzie shot a glance at her father and then quickly towards Sally. She knew Sally was misbehaving, whenever she heard her father speak about a "chat", Lizzie knew she had either better start doing something or stop doing something. But she couldn't figure out what Sally was doing wrong. When Adam stood up, Lizzie was very glad that his attention was not directed at her. She watched Sally filling her plate and still couldn't figure out what was wrong. She glanced up at her papa again. Adam didn't give real warnings like a lot of parents did. He used the word "chat", then he stood up, and if she didn't take those two hints she would be propelled to somewhere private and scolded or punished.

Sally didn't stop filling her plate, but she did say, "I'm sorry I was mean to you."

"I think you can do better than that, " said Adam without sitting down. He placed his hands flat on the table and leaned in towards Sally. "Look at your mama and apologize properly."

Lizzie knew what that meant. She had heard about proper apologies when she was younger. It meant to apologize for something specific, not just say sorry.

"What are you sorry for, specifically?"

"Sally," Joshua said in a low tone reaching out for Sally's arm. "Do as Adam says."

When Joshua spoke, Adam sat back down. Sally glanced at Joshua and then over at Adam. When Adam saw her face he realized that she had absolutely no idea about how to apologize properly. He could see that she knew she would be in trouble with not only Adam, but her grandpa as well if she didn't do as she was being told. She had a little fear on her face because she didn't know what was expected of her.

"Look at your mama, Sally, and tell her what you are sorry for," Adam said softly.

"I'm sorry I shouted at you, Mama." Sally said meeting her mother's eyes, but then she looked back at Adam.

"Why was it wrong to shout at your mama?" Adam prompted.

"It was rude of me to shout at you," Sally's eyes shifted to her mother's eyes when she said that, but they came immediately back to Adam's.

"Do you think she meant to pull your hair?" Adam hinted a little more explicitly.

"I know it was an accident when you pulled my hair," Sally was still looking at Adam when she said that and when she saw him nod, she breathed a sigh of relief and looked back at her mother.

Ruth reached out to smooth Sally's bangs out of her face. "I know you're sorry, honey. It's all right."

Adam gave an internal groan at that response. He never told Lizzie it was all right. When she misbehaved, it wasn't all right. He would forgive her, but what she had done was _not_ all right.

"So, you forgive Sally, Ruth?" Adam felt like he was teaching Ruth as much as he was teaching Sally and it was making him frustrated.

"Yes, yes, of course," Ruth blushed. "I forgive you, Sally." Ruth looked up at Adam and after seeing another nod, she said, "Eat you breakfast now, Sally. You need to finish so you can go into town to work at the store."

Lizzie looked around at all the adults at the table, when she felt her papa's eyes on her, she quickly focused on her plate. She had started out on the wrong foot with him already this morning and she could hear the exasperation in his voice as he spoke to Ruth. She definitely did not want to do anything that would displease him.


	14. Lizzie's Day

**Thanks for all the kind reviews. You all make my day!**

The rest of breakfast went quickly and true to his word, Adam took Lizzie outside to finish her chores and then said goodbye to her in the house.

"Have a good day. I'll be home late this afternoon." He kissed her forehead, grabbed his hat and went out the door.

Joshua, Ruth and Sally came down the stairs as Adam was leaving.

"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" Ben asked. "I really don't mind."

"No, thank you, Ben. We can manage just fine on our own. You have business you need to attend to and I don't want to keep you from it." Joshua said as he ushered Ruth and Sally out the door.

"Well, it looks like is it just you and me, Lizzie," he said turning in his chair.

"Yes," Lizzie picked up the note that her father had left on the table in front of the fire and threw herself onto the couch, lying down, but keeping her feet off the couch. She scanned the list of things she was supposed to do today and tried to decide if she should just go in order, do the things she disliked the most or do the ones she liked the most first. The thought of just lying there on the couch crossed her mind too, but she decided against that pretty quickly. She was already in enough trouble with her papa.

"I'm gonna go upstairs and clean my room, Grandpa," Lizzie sighed.

"All right, honey. I'll be down here working on the books if you need me," Ben sighed and turned to start on his least favorite job.

Over the next two hours, Ben looked up periodically to see Lizzie consulting the list and getting to work on yet another job. He smiled to himself and seeing her working so diligently encouraged him to keep working diligently himself.

"Lizzie, how's the list coming?" Ben called when he saw her starting to empty the ashes out of the fireplace.

"Long!" Lizzie said. "I don't know if I am going to be able to finish everything."

"Well, you've been working hard, I am sure your papa will understand if you don't get everything done. Do you think you can take time for a break?"

"Yes!" she said excitedly. "I'll be right back." Ben watched her run up the stairs and after a few moments, come down carrying a paper bag. She came over and standing next to his knee she held out the bag. "Candy from yesterday. I got some licorice for you."

Ben took the bag from her and took out one of the two pieces that were in the bag. "Well, thank you so much for thinking of me." He smiled.

"I got it thinking it might make you less grumpy yesterday," she said ducking her head. "Maybe today it will make you happier about having to do paperwork." She looked up at him with wide eyes, hoping he would smile.

"Licorice always helps, thank you," he held out the bag to her. "What are you going to have?"

"Jelly beans," she said putting her hands on his leg and peering into the bag. Ben smiled and put his head close to hers so he could peer into the bag too. She rooted around in the bag and pulling out a light yellow one, she popped it into her mouth and smiled. When they had eaten all the candy in the bag, Ben said with a sigh, "Time to get back to work, I think."

"Yeah," Lizzie paused. "Grandpa, Papa said I couldn't go outside without an adult today and I filled the bucket with ashes from the fireplace. Will you go outside with me so that I can dump it?" She pointed at the fireplace and blushed. She did not like the new rules.

"Anything to delay having to start on paperwork again," Ben said rolling his eyes and grinning. He stood and waited while she ran over to get the bucket, then followed her out to the ash pile. She walked back slowly looking at the palomino. Ben had to stop three more times and follow her outside before the fireplace was emptied, but he didn't mind, he was glad that Lizzie was doing what Adam had told her to do. While he was always very proud to be her grandpa, he found he was especially proud when she minded Adam without any prompting.

After a quick lunch, Ben left to tend to some errands he had been meaning to do.

"Hop Sing will be here, Lizzie. He'll help you if you need it."

* * *

><p>For the fifteenth time that hour, Lizzie looked out the window. It was getting late and no one was home yet. Hop Sing had taken some food to a sick neighbor thinking that someone would be home soon. She was okay being alone for a little while and it had happened before, but she could hear the animals starting to get restless and knew that they were expecting her to come out and take care of them. After Hop Sing had left, Lizzie had kept working at the list for a while, but now it lay discarded on the dining room table. She knew she couldn't go outside, but she didn't like that the animals were being neglected. She sighed in relief when she saw her Uncle Joe ride into the yard.<p>

"Uncle Joe, you're home!" Lizzie called as she ran out into the yard.

"Yes, honey. Are you here by yourself?" He asked, swinging down from the saddle. He looked around seeing the buggy still gone and his family's horses gone as well.

"Yes, Hop Sing had to take a meal to the Jamison's and he left me here by myself. I wanted to do my chores, but Papa said I wasn't allowed outside by myself. The animals are hungry, but Papa said to wait until he got home. Do you think I should keep waiting?" She asked anxiously, looking past him down the road to see if she could see her papa.

Joe glanced at the sky realizing that it was getting late. He looked around at the animals and saw many of them without water. He looked back down at Lizzie's worried face and decided that she should start taking care of them.

"You go ahead and start, Lizzie. I'll stay out here with you until your papa gets home. I am sure he is on his way and won't be upset with you for starting without him, especially since it is getting late."

Lizzie smiled a relieved smile and got busy. Joe curried Cochise out in the yard and kept an eye on Lizzie. He smiled thinking about the times his pa had kept him cooped up in the house when he had misbehaved. He didn't blame Lizzie for moving a little more slowly than she normally did. He knew she was trying to prolong the time she was outside.

"I'm going to put Cochise in his stall, Lizzie," Joe called. "I'll be right back out. You keep working."

"Yes, Uncle Joe," Lizzie called back as she worked the pump to refill the pail.

Adam came over the crest of the hill and saw Lizzie out in the yard alone. He had had a very frustrating day and seeing that his daughter was disobeying him was the capstone on his very bad day. He spurred his horse and trotted the last quarter mile into the yard.

"Elizabeth Cartwright," Adam said forcefully, swinging out of his saddle. "I told you you were not to leave the house unless an adult was with you!" He flipped the reins over the hitching post and started towards her.

Lizzie stopped pumping the water; turning to face her father just as Joe stepped out of the barn. "And she is with one, me." Joe said firmly, walking over to Lizzie and putting his arm around her shoulders.

Lizzie saw the angry look on Adam's face and before it registered embarrassment; she dropped the nearly full pail that was in her hands and ran into the house.

"Dammit," Adam swore softly.

"When I got home, Lizzie was alone in the house," Joe turned on his older brother. "She came out to ask me if I thought she should start on her chores since it was getting pretty late and the animals were hungry and thirsty. She mentioned that you had told her to wait until you got home and that she wasn't supposed to be out of the house without an adult. I told her that she should go ahead and get her chores done; that I would stay out here with her." Joe finished sternly, frowning at him.

"I was later getting back than I expected to be and when I saw her out here alone, I just assumed…"

"What? That she was defying you? That's pretty uncharacteristic of her I think." Joe scolded his older brother folding his arms. "I'll take care of Beauty and finish up Lizzie's chores while you go and talk to her."

"Thanks, Joe," Adam practically ran into the house and up to Lizzie's room.

"Lizzie, honey?" He called through the door knocking softly. "Lizzie?" He opened the door slowly when she didn't answer.

Lizzie was sitting on her bed with her arms crossed, staring at her feet.

"I'm sorry, Lizzie. I saw you out in the yard alone and I thought…you were pretty unhappy today about staying in the house…I didn't see your Uncle Joe" He made several lame attempts to explain his reaction, but realizing there was simply no good excuse he finished with "I am so sorry, Lizzie. Will you forgive me?"

Lizzie looked up at him with a grim face and her arms still folded across her chest. "I did everything you asked me to; I worked on that stupid list all day; I didn't go outside alone." She crossed and recrossed her arms, looking up at him after each declaration and then looked back to the floor.

"You have every reason to be angry with me. I made a mistake. I'm sorry, Lizzie. Please forgive me for thinking you weren't doing what I asked. Will you forgive me?"

"Yes," she said nodding. "I need to finish my chores." She hopped down off the bed and started towards the door walking past Adam.

"Your Uncle Joe said he would finish them." Adam said tiredly as he watched her walk past.

"Is it all right if I go help?" She frowned up at him and kept her arms crossed.

"Of course," Adam said and watched Lizzie walk out of the room with her arms still crossed. Adam realized he had blundered badly with Lizzie and he did not feel forgiven despite what she had said.

Adam stayed in Lizzie's room for a few minutes before walking downstairs. He sat in the chair by the fire and put his head in his palm thinking about how he could fix this. He was still sitting that way, when his father walked in the door.

"I'm glad you are letting Lizzie do some outside chores, Adam," Ben called to him as he began taking off his coat and hat and putting them on the rack by the door. "You would be so proud of her. She stayed inside and she worked hard on that list too." He pointed at where the list had been on the table by the fire earlier. "She was worried that she wouldn't get it all done, but I told her I would tell you how hard she worked. She even asked me to go out with her to dump the ashes." Ben continued with a big smile as he walked over to his chair. Sitting down, he finally focused on Adam and realized that he wasn't happy.

"Has something happened? Can I help?" His smiled faded. Ben steepled his fingers and looked over them at Adam.

"I'm not sure you _can_ help, Pa. I came in to the yard to find Lizzie out by herself watering the animals...or so I thought."

"Oh, surely she wasn't disobeying you. She was so good today." Ben drew his eyebrows together.

"You're right, she wasn't disobeying me. She had asked Joe to stay outside with her since I was so late in coming home. I scolded her before I realized that he was in the barn."

"Adam," Ben said shaking his head.

"And hearing what a good job she did today from you, just makes me feel that much worse."

"She'll forgive you. I'm sure. Did you apologize to her?"

"Yes, but I don't think she is quite ready to forgive. I am not sure I blame her." Adam said resignedly.

TBC


	15. Sally's Day

Joshua pushed Ruth and Sally out the door and towards the buggy. Sally ran to the front and started to climb in the front.

"Sally, no, you'll ride in the back seat. Your mother gets the front."

"But I can't see in the back," she whined.

"I'm sorry. Get in the back." Joshua pointed to the back seat and took a deep breath. Having to constantly fight to get Sally to do what he wanted was exhausting. It was so much easier to let her have her way he thought.

"It's fine, Pa. I'll sit in the back." Ruth said as she climbed up into the buggy.

"Fine," Joshua threw up his hands and climbed in next to Sally.

Adam, coming out of the barn with Beauty watched the scene unfold. He looked at Sally's smug expression as the buggy pulled away and shook his head.

"Have some backbone, man," he whispered to himself. "She's eight." He mounted up and rode out in the opposite direction.

"Now, I want you to behave and do what Mr. Mason asks you to do, Sally." Joshua said as they neared town.

Sally didn't answer and she turned her head away from him. Joshua shook his head and pulled the buggy up in front of the store. He helped Ruth down and then reached up to lift Sally down. Taking her hand, he walked her up the steps and into the store. He would feel her slight resistance, but he was determined to carry through with this. He just wasn't sure how she was going to behave with Mr. Mason.

Jim Mason smiled as he saw the small family come through the door.

"You made it,' he said excitedly. "Sally, I am so glad that you are here to help me out today."

Sally pulled her hand out of her grandpa's, crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

"Well…" he started.

"Pa, Pa," a young female voice called from the rear of the store.

"Jenny," Mr. Mason called over his shoulder. "Come and meet our visitors."

A young girl, of about 10, with a high blonde ponytail and a pink dress came out of the back room.

"I'm sorry for shouting, I didn't know you had opened the store, Pa," she came up and stood next to her father.

"That's all right, Jenny. Meet the Brown family. This is Joshua, Ruth and Sally." He introduced them pointing to each one in turn.

"Hello," she said. "I'm Jenny Mason." She looked at each of them.

"Sally is going to be helping me out in the store today. She and her family are here visiting the Cartwrights."

Jenny turned to look at Sally. "Well, have fun." She rolled her eyes dramatically. "Don't let Pa work you too hard."

"You don't need to worry about that, Sally." He reassured her. "I only work my children too hard." He reached out and bopped the top of Jenny's head with his closed hand.

She smiled up at her pa. "Ma said I should come in and tell you we were leaving. She is leaving lunch for you on the table and she said we should be back by late afternoon."

"Well, have fun, Jenny. You can thank Sally for taking your place today."

"Thanks, Sally. Nice meeting you." She glanced back at the Brown family, gave her father a quick hug around the waist and ran out the back door.

"Well, Sally and I need to get to work, so if you'll come back around noon?" Mr. Mason reached out to put an arm around Sally's shoulders and pulled her towards him.

"Are you sure you don't want us to stay?" Joshua questioned, raising his eyebrows.

"No, we don't need them to stay, do we Sally?" He looked down at her and patted her shoulder. "We'll be just fine, right?"

Keeping a firm hold on Sally's shoulders, he walked towards them, moving them to the door. He held it open for them and with one final look at Sally from both Ruth and Joshua; they walked down the steps and were gone.

"Are you ready to start?" He asked brightly. He walked her back to the counter and pulling an apron like his from behind the counter, tied it high across her chest looping the strings around her and tying them in front.

"No," Sally frowned and crossed her arms.

"All right," he pulled a chair out away from the wall, keeping a hand on her shoulder and placed it next to the end of the counter. "I have to work and you can just sit here." He said pleasantly and smiled. "You let me know if you change your mind. I don't want you to have to do anything that you don't want to do." He took his hand off her shoulders and guided her into the seat.

"I want to go with Mama."

"You may go with your mama when they come back for you at noon, until then you can just relax and watch me work."

Mr. Mason picked up a feather duster and began dusting the shelves and counters near Sally. He suspected she was going to bolt and not too soon after that thought, she jumped up and ran towards the door.

"Oh, you've changed your mind! Wonderful!" Before she could protest he grabbed her shoulders and steered her over to the shelves that held the canned goods.

"We need to take all of these canned goods off the shelves and dust the shelves and put them back. Now my children and I make a game of it. We see who can get the goods off the shelves first, being careful not to break anything. We clean off the shelf and then race to see who can get everything back in its place. You take that shelf and I'll take this one. Ready? Go!" As he shouted go, he started pulling the jars off the shelf and putting them on the floor. Sally followed along half-heartedly, pulling the jars off the shelf slowly.

"Ha! I beat you." He crowed triumphantly. "But you let me win, didn't you?" He reached down to help get the rest of the jars off the shelf that Sally was working on and pressed a cloth into her hands. "Now, you wipe that shelf off and we'll race to get them put back up."

Sally sat down on the floor and slowly wiped the shelf off while Mr. Mason did his. When she was done, he took the cloth from her and dropped it on the floor.

"You say go this time, and try to beat me. I don't want you to let me win. I want to earn it." He smiled a big smile and put his hands on the tops of two jars and waited, bent over, peering at her through his upper eyelashes.

"Go," she shouted and started putting the jars back on the shelf as quickly as she could. She glanced at Mr. Mason out of the corner of her eye and saw him working as quickly as he could, but since her shelf was near the floor and she didn't have to bend down and pick up the jars, she easily beat him.

"Ha! Beat you!" She taunted, using the same words he had.

"All right, Miss Brown. The score is one to one. Let's see who wins the next one!"

They raced through the shelves and the score stayed pretty close to tied with Mr. Mason taking the lead when Sally's shelves were off the floor and Sally taking the lead when she sat down to unload and reload the shelves. They were half way through a particularly big shelf, laughing and working as fast as they could when the bell over the door rang. Mr. Mason stopped and crouching down, he put his hands on Sally's to stop her. He put his finger to his lips and winking at her, he stood smoothed his apron and walked with a measured step around the end of the store shelves.

"Yes, Ma'am, how may I help you?"

Sally smiled and kept putting the jars back on the shelf. This was one of the higher ones and she thought she could get all her jars done before Mr. Mason was done with his customer. She had just put the last jar on the shelf when she heard the bell ring to signal the customer was leaving.

"Hah, beat you!" She yelled when Mr. Mason came around the corner.

"Yes, you did." He put his arm around her and gave her a squeeze. "Will you help me finish this shelf?"

Sally sat and handed the jars up to Mr. Mason and when they finished loading that shelf and racing through the last two, they ended in a tie.

"Whew, I think we both took the blue ribbon in shelf cleaning," he said pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiping off his brow. "Have you ever swept?"

Sally shook her head.

"Well, the sweeping job is very important, because while you sweep, you need to greet the people in the street. You have to make the customers feel welcome. Come on, I'll show you."

Mr. Mason grabbed the broom and Sally followed him. He started sweeping and calling out good morning to the people passing. When a customer walked up the steps, he said, "Welcome, come right in." He turned to Sally and handed her the broom.

"Do you want to try?" When she nodded, he handed her the broom and watched her for a few minutes, before going inside. He helped the customer, keeping a wary eye on Sally. He didn't want her to run off, but she kept sweeping like she was supposed to and when the customer left, Sally called after, "Thank you!"

He turned to other work and listened to her saying hello to people as she swept.

"You've done a fine job out here, Sally," Mr. Mason praised. The broom was a little too large for her and difficult to control, and the steps still had quite a bit of dirt on them, but he felt for a first try she had done a pretty good job.

He took the broom from her and walked inside with her following him and he directed her to other things. They worked steadily for a while, folding the yard goods and straightening shelves.

"We have been working for two hours, do you think we should take a break?' Mr. Mason asked.

Sally nodded and came over to stand by him.

"What kind of candy would you like? I think peppermint was your favorite, right? Or would you like jellybeans? I just got some more of those in."

"Peppermint…please," she added the please when Mr. Mason didn't turn immediately and get the candy. He placed one piece in her hand and grabbing two of the chairs, he carried them to the back room. After they were both seated, he put the lemon drop he had gotten for himself in his mouth and tilted the chair back on two legs and stared up at the ceiling.

"You've been a good worker today, Sally," he said. "I was just thinking though, why do you think your grandpa wanted you to come and work with me today?"

Sally blushed and looked at her hands that she had folded in her lap.

"Why do you think that is Sally?" He asked again, not taking his eyes from the ceiling.

"'Cause I stole," she said quietly.

"Well, I guess that's part of it, but I don't think that's the whole reason. I mean he punished you out in the storage shed for stealing the horse, right? I think there must be another reason." Minutes ticked by and they were both silent. She could hear him rolling the lemon drop around in his mouth and her peppermint was long gone.

"I don't know for sure, but here's what I'm thinking. You've worked two hours with me and if you had been working for money, you would have just now earned enough to buy that toy horse." He paused and rolled the lemon drop around in his mouth. "Maybe, your grandpa wanted you to know how much that horse was worth in work. Do you think?" He brought the legs of the chair down with a thump.

"Sally?"

Sally looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry I stole that horse from you. I just wanted it. I didn't think about you having to work to buy it."

"I know, honey, and you are more than forgiven. You did a good job for me today. You don't have to feel bad about it anymore. You just need to promise me that you are never going to steal again. Do you promise?"

Sally nodded.

"Will you promise me out loud?" He asked gently.

"I promise," she whispered.

"I believe you." He paused. "Come on, break's over and I have a fun job to finish out the morning: apple sorting!"

"What's apple sorting?"

"We have to empty that whole barrel of apples out front and pick out the ones that are starting to spoil. The ones like that we can feed to the horses. I hope you like horses!"

Sally smiled. "I do like horses. I even ride horses. People tell me I am a very good rider."

"Then let's get started!"

They were just walking back from feeding the horses, talking and laughing when Ruth and Joshua walked up.

"Mama, I fed the rotten apples to the horses and I got to greet the customers coming in and we raced to clean the shelves." Sally looked over at Mr. Mason when she said that, she wasn't sure if it was a secret or not.

He smiled and nodded. "She did a wonderful job for me." He crouched down to untie the apron around her waist and when he did, she threw her arms around him. He hugged her back and whispered, "Remember the promise you made me."

"I will," she whispered back.

TBC


	16. Apology Accepted

Lizzie practically ran down the stairs and outside. She had told her papa that she accepted his apology, but she was still mad…mad. She had obeyed him and he should not have scolded her like he did she thought. Joe was just finishing up with Beauty as she walked over to the pail she had dropped and began to fill it at the pump.

"Everything all right between you and your papa?" Joe called as he unwrapped the reins from around the corral rail.

"Yes, sir," Lizzie called.

"So, that's a no," Joe whispered to himself. Joe had played poker with a lot of people and knew about tells. Lizzie's tell was being extra polite. She never called anyone sir when things were going well. After Joe had put Beauty in her stall, he leaned against the door to the barn and watched Lizzie filling the water troughs for the animals. He glanced up as he heard Hoss come riding into the yard.

"What's going on Little Joe?" Hoss asked as he dismounted.

"Lizzie and Adam aren't getting along very well right now."

"Lizzie didn't get herself in trouble again did she?"

"No," Joe said as he crossed his arms. "Adam told her not to go outside without an adult and when he came home this afternoon he saw her watering the animals, but didn't see me in the barn. He assumed that she was disobeying him and lit into her."

"Oh." Hoss rubbed the side of his face.

"He went after her to apologize, but I would say that she hasn't quite forgiven him yet."

"You think I oughta talk to her?"

"You can try," Joe gestured with both hands and made a little bow. "She just called me sir."

"Oh," Hoss rubbed the side of his face again.

Hoss walked over to the hitching post to tie up his horse just as Lizzie returned to the pump and began filling the pail again.

"Hey, Lizzie. After you finish watering the animals, you think I could get your help currying my horse? I got home later than I expected and don't want to be late for supper."

"Sure Uncle Hoss, I just have one more trough to fill."

Hoss unbuckled the saddle, walked over to the barn to leave it. He gave Joe a quick look as he picked up the currycombs and brushes.

"Good luck, big brother," Joe said in a low voice.

Lizzie finished up the watering, came to pick up a brush where Hoss had left it and started brushing the horse.

They worked for a few minutes in silence.

"You're awfully quiet, Lizzie, is everything all right?"

"Yes, sir," Lizzie said and kept brushing.

"Did you do anything fun today?"

"No, Papa was punishing me and made me stay in the house and work today."

"Oh," Hoss kicked himself for asking that.

After that, Hoss couldn't think of anything else to say and when they had finished grooming the horse, Lizzie turned to go in the house and Hoss took the horse to the barn.

"That went well," Joe said and chuckled as Hoss passed him. Hoss raised his index finger and opened his mouth to say something, but just shook his head and turned to put the horse in its stall.

Supper was unusually late that night and by the time Ruth, Joshua and Sally returned from town, it was dark. After everyone was seated at the table and the meal had started, Ben looked around and searched for a topic of conversation. He looked first at Adam and Lizzie. Lizzie was quietly eating never taking her eyes from her plate. He couldn't ask her how her day went because he had been home for most of it, not to mention the fact that she was being punished. He looked at Adam, who was quieter than was normal even for him, and was afraid to ask how his day had been. He glanced over at Ruth, Joshua and Sally and knew that the potential of a good days report from any of them was chancy. He finally fell back on the old tried and true and asked Joe and Hoss for a report of the fence mending. The meal ended quickly and as coffee was served near the fire, Sally and Ruth began a game of Cat's Cradle, Joshua excused himself to see to some paperwork that needed his attention. Hoss and Joe stared at the fire and Ben watched Adam as Adam watched Lizzie clear the table.

When Lizzie finished her chore and walked over to the table in front of the fire, Adam asked, "Who's up for a game of Chinese Checkers?"

"I'll take some of that action," Joe said and looked at Lizzie

"Me too," said Hoss as he too looked at Lizzie.

"Lizzie?" Adam asked over his shoulder as he got the board down from its place in the gun cabinet.

"No, thank you, Papa. I'm going to my room to read." She picked up the book of fairy tales that Joshua had returned to the table in front of the fire.

Ben frowned for a minute before he reached out and hooked a finger in one of her belt loops playfully to stop her.

"Awww, you don't want to be up in your room all by yourself, come out and look at the stars with me." He grinned at her.

"No, thank you, Grandpa. I just want to read."

"You can read after we look at the stars. How much do you remember about navigating by the stars? Do you remember the important constellations I taught you?" As he spoke, he stood and took the book out of her hands, putting it on the table. He then put his arm around her shoulders and guided her out of the door, leading her to the bench that was a little way away from the house and allowed a good view of the stars.

"Sally, Ruth, would you like to play Chinese checkers?" Adam asked distractedly as he watched his father and daughter walk out the door.

"I want to look at the stars," Sally said.

"I think that's a private viewing party, Sally," said Joe. "Why don't you play with us?"

Ben sat down and pulled Lizzie to his side.

"Which constellations do you remember?" He asked.

"The north star…"

"Which constellation is that star part of?" He asked.

"The Big Dipper…" she said after a moment's hesitation.

"Can you point out the Big Dipper to me?"

"Good," he praised her as she pointed out the seven stars that made up the constellation.

"What's next?"

"Cassiopeia…" Lizzie said.

"Yes, and the most important star in that constellation for navigation?"

"I don't remember," Lizzie said after thinking for a while.

"It's Schedar," he said quietly pointing it out to her.

He taught her how to find the Little Dipper and he told her the stories of Auriga, Draco, Lyra and Cygnus. He finished up his astronomy lesson with the two brightest northern stars of Vega and Capella.

"Next time we come out, if you can name all the important constellations, I'll teach you to use my sextant. I used it when I was at sea before I married your grandmother: your papa's mother. The woman you are named for."

"All right," Lizzie said and leaned against his chest as she looked up at the stars.

They sat in silence for a while, before Ben said, "You've been awfully quiet tonight, is everything all right?"

"Yes, Grandpa,"

"Hmmm, I'm not so sure. Is everything all right between you and your papa? Come on you can tell me." He said as he rubbed her arm and gave it a few pats.

"He got mad a me today for no reason," she said after a moment.

"He did?"

"Yes, he thought I was outside without an adult and he scolded me. I didn't go outside at all today without an adult. I even asked you to come out with me to dump the ashes." Lizzie said indignantly as she sat up and crossed her arms.

"I know and I told your papa that you were especially good today."

"You did?" Her voice softened.

"Of course I did. I told him how hard you worked on the list he left and how you asked me to go outside with you. You made me very proud." Ben reached out and brushed her bangs off her face. "Your papa was very proud of you too."

"Didn't seem that way to me."

"Do you think I should take him out to the barn and have a chat with him?" Ben asked seriously.

Lizzie laughed, "You can't do that, Grandpa. Papa's a grown up."

"He's still my son and I am still his pa. He may be a grown up, but it is still my job to help him behave like he should, the same way that it is always going to be his job to help you behave like you should," Ben nodded his head once firmly.

"You'd really take him out to the barn and have a….have a chat with him?"

"If he had it coming, I would. Here's the thing about spankings. I think that they stop not because you get too old, but because you stop doing the things that earn you one. He treated you unfairly and then apparently didn't have the good graces to apologize for his mistake. As his pa, it's my job to straighten him out, and if that means a trip to the barn, then so be it."

"But he did apologize, Grandpa," Lizzie said quietly and ducked her head.

Ben growled. "Well, he must not have done a very good job with that apology. I'm sorry, but I think he deserves to be punished." Ben said firmly, raising his voice and allowing a little bit of anger to come into his tone.

"No, he doesn't," she said quickly. "It was a mistake. He didn't see Uncle Joe in the barn." Lizzie looked a little worried as she tried to explain.

"You don't think he should be punished?" Ben asked and frowned.

"No, he was sorry when he apologized; I promise," Lizzie said earnestly nodding her head and trying to sound reassuring as she met his eye.

Ben reached out, pulled Lizzie back onto his chest, put his arm around her and said quietly, "If he apologized and was really sorry, Lizzie, and you don't think I should punish him, then why are _you_ punishing him?"

"I'm not punishing him," she shook her head no against his chest.

"Yes, you are, honey. You barely spoke to him tonight. He asked you to play Chinese checkers with him and you told him no. When do you ever say no to Chinese checkers?"

"Grandpa, I…"

"No, listen," Ben interrupted. "When someone apologizes and you believe they are really sorry you can accept their apology or not. If you do accept their apology, that means that you forgive them. Forgiving them means you don't continue to punish them with silence or short answers or by finding reasons not to be around them, like saying you want to go upstairs and read instead of staying downstairs and playing Chinese checkers." Ben gave her a squeeze. "Do you understand what I'm saying, Lizzie?"

Lizzie was quiet for a long time and then she sat up, looked at him and said, "Is it all right if we go in now, Grandpa?"

"Yeah, let's go in," Ben nodded.

Lizzie stood and Ben put his arm around her shoulders and they walked back to the house. Ben opened the door so that she could go through the door first and as they came in he met Adam's hopeful look with a nod.

Lizzie walked over and stood next to Adam's chair and said, "I don't think you deserve to be punished."

"I don't understand," Adam sat back and shook his head, frowning.

"I don't think you should be punished and I forgive you for your mistake."

Lizzie turned to look at her grandpa who had taken a seat in his chair.

"Just say thank you, Adam. I'll explain it to you later." Ben looked at Adam over his steepled fingers.

"Thank you, Lizzie," he said sincerely as she put her arms around his neck to hug him. He hugged her back as he said, "I really am sorry that I thought you were being disobedient. I shouldn't have scolded you until I knew all the facts."

"I know. I really do accept your apology. Can I play with you?"

"Of course," Adam said with a huge smile.

Joe pulled a pillow from the couch and fluffing it, handed it to Lizzie so that she could have a spot next to her papa on the floor.

As Lizzie was settling down on the floor, Adam looked up to his father's smile and mouthed, "Thank you."

Ben nodded.

TBC


	17. A Sleepless Night

Adam sat staring at the fire. He needed time by himself and sitting by the fire after everyone else was in bed was usually the best time to be alone with his thoughts. He had started out reading, but gradually his mind had drifted and now the book lay all but forgotten in his lap. He was in a much better mood than he had been earlier in the evening. Being back on the right footing with Lizzie had helped immensely. He didn't like making mistakes with her and he was still attempting to forgive himself for his misstep. Adam knew one of his biggest character flaws was the need to always be right. It had led to many a night of self flagellation, but acknowledging it did nothing to fix it and so he sat up weary and unslept, staring at the fire.

A creaking from the stairs roused him from his reverie. He turned to see Sally walking quietly towards the kitchen.

"What are you doing up, Sally?" He asked softly.

He smiled as she jumped with a start and wheeled to face him.

"Nothing."

"Are you sure you aren't heading to the kitchen for some of those ginger cookies of Hop Sing's? It's all right if you are. I was just thinking a couple of cookies might be nice."

"Well…" she said uncertainly.

"Have a seat. I'll bring you some."

"Thanks!" Sally said as she plopped down on the couch.

"You're welcome." Adam smiled to himself and got out of the chair. "Sally's really coming around," he thought to himself.

Sally had added a lot of fun to the game of Chinese checkers that had spiraled out of control once Lizzie had come back inside. Hoss and Joe had been cheating outrageously and when everyone's attention was focused on them, Sally had moved all her marbles and yelled out that she had won. Everyone had congratulated her effusively; they had laughed uproariously and from that point on the game was one of extreme cheating and laughter. Sally seemed less inhibited and less demanding and Adam was really warming up to her.

Adam came back with cookies on a plate and a glass of milk for Sally. He put the milk in front of Sally and keeping the plate in his hand, he took the seat directly next to her on the couch.

"I thought we could share," he said.

He held the plate out to her and after she had selected a cookie, he took one himself and put the plate on the table. He draped his arm casually around the back of the couch behind Sally and bit into his cookie.

"So, did a bad dream wake you up?" He asked.

"No, mama was talking in her sleep I guess." She stared intently at the cookie, which caused Adam to suspect that wasn't the whole truth.

"Are you sure you aren't worried about something? Did you have a bad day at the store?"

"No, things were fine at the store."

"I like Mr. Mason," Adam said, nodding. "Did you like him?" Adam kept his eyes on the fire and his voice casual. He didn't want to spook her.

Sally looked at Adam out of the corner of her eye and tilted her head as if gauging what she should say. "Do you really like him?"

"Yes, he always seems to be smiling. I think he must really like owning the store. He seems to enjoy his work." Adam glanced in Sally's direction as he was answering her, but he returned his gaze to the fire.

"He's fun," she said hesitantly, making darting glances towards Adam as if she was afraid to say too much.

"Fun? Why is he fun?" Adam reached over and pulled Sally into his lap. "Did you enjoy working at the store today? So, you think you might like to grow up and marry a storekeeper?" He smiled and nodded at her, trying to encourage her to tell him more.

Sally smiled a huge smile and nodded. "We had cleaning races and I swept the front porch. Mr. Mason said that was the most important job since it was my job to greet people and I never swept before, but he said I did a good job. We even fed the rotten apples to the horses." The words tumbled out.

"That does sound like fun. So, you learned how to run a store today! What else did you do?"

Sally got suddenly quiet and thoughtful. "Nothing, I guess."

Adam frowned at the sudden change in Sally's mood.

"What's wrong? Did something happen to make you sad?"

Sally tried to climb out of Adam's lap, but he tightened his grip on her and pulled her towards his chest.

"It's okay to tell me. I promise I won't be angry at you."

"Promise?" Sally whispered.

"Why would I be angry at you? It sounds like you worked really hard today and were a great help to Mr. Mason. I'm proud of you."

Adam felt Sally relax at those words and he waited for her to answer.

"I think Grandpa is mad at me," she whispered, keeping her head down.

"Why do you think that?" Adam pulled her closer and stroked her arm.

"'Cause when I told Mama about my day, he got an angry look on his face. I think he didn't want me to have fun working at the store."

"Well, I think he wanted you to learn something from working in the store," Adam said seriously. "Did you learn anything?"

"I learned how much work Mr. Mason had to do to buy that horse and that's why I shouldn't steal." Sally eyes teared up.

"That was a pretty important lesson," Adam said warmly. "I think if your grandpa knew that was what you learned he wouldn't be upset that you had a good time at the store. Did you tell him about what you learned?"

"No, I was scared he was going to spank me again."

"I don't think you have to worry about being spanked unless you do something deliberately wrong."

"What's that mean?"

"It means you know you shouldn't do it and you do it anyway."

"I do that a lot." Sally sighed.

"You used to do that a lot," Adam said reassuringly. "Not any more, right? You did really well today. You went to the store, even though you didn't want to and you worked hard. I noticed you ate your dinner again without complaining. That's two nights in a row. You had fun playing Chinese checkers and you were gracious in winning and in defeat." He tickled her ribs and got a small smile from her. "I remember when you told me that if you don't win you don't play. Sounds to me like you are starting to not do things that you know are wrong. You're turning into a pretty well behaved little girl. One I like a lot." Adam patted her leg and gave her a quick hug.

"Really?"

"Yes, really," Adam said reassuringly. "I think you'll find, Sally, that when you try to do the right thing, life is a lot better for you and you don't have to worry about being spanked." Adam rubbed her back and paused. "So, what's the real reason you couldn't sleep? Is it because you were worried about your grandpa?"

Sally nodded, but her eyes were starting to droop and she was asleep in Adam's arms before she said anything. Adam glanced up the stairs wondering if he could sneak her back into bed without waking Ruth and then decided it would be improper for him to be in her bedroom in the first place. He decided he should probably get comfortable and hope that Sally either woke up or that Ruth woke up and found Sally missing. He shifted back into the chair by the fire and picked up his book moving carefully so as not to wake Sally.

His thoughts turned not to the book but to Sally. He really was starting to like her and he found he felt more than a little sorry for her. She had sought comfort not from her mother or grandpa, but from him, a relative stranger. Adam knew that Lizzie knew that regardless of what she had done or how angry he might have been with her, his arms were always a safe place to be. It seemed that Sally didn't have that and that made him sad. Adam looked down at the sleeping girl and tried to think of a way to help her. His eyes began to get heavy and he was just starting to nod off when he heard Ruth on the stairs.

"Adam? Have you seen Sally?" Ruth stood on the bottom step of the stairs, pulling her robe tightly against her.

Adam snapped back awake and stood with Sally in his arms. "I'll carry her back to bed for you," he said softly.

Adam carried Sally up to their room and laid her softly in bed. He pulled the covers up and whispered, "Good night," to Ruth, pulling the door closed

Adam glanced at his room and thought about trying to sleep but decided he was once again wide-awake and headed back down the stairs. He settled back into his chair and picked up the book. About three chapters in, he heard a creak on the stairs and looked up to see his father in his red robe coming down the stairs.

"Trouble sleeping, son?" Ben asked.

"Yes, Pa. I feel like I have been breaking horses for the past two days. I've administered two spankings, put Lizzie in the corner and on restriction and been given the silent, polite treatment twice. By the way, what did Lizzie mean when she told me she didn't think I should be punished?" He closed the book and looked up expectantly.

A smile flickered across Ben's lips as he took his customary seat across from Adam. "Well, I asked her if she thought I should take a trip out to the barn with you and straighten you out for the way you had treated her."

Adam smiled an embarrassed smile and shifted in his seat slightly. "And what did she say to that?"

"She's Lizzie," Ben smiled broadly. "She stood up for you. As angry as she might have been with you, she defended you."

"Well, I am glad for that. I don't relish returning to the days of trips out to the barn with you."

"Neither do I," Ben said is a deep voice, shook his finger at Adam and frowned before he smiled. "I asked why _she_ was punishing you if she thought that you didn't deserve to be punished. You know the rest."

"Thanks, Pa. I think that you are probably the only one who could have taught Lizzie that lesson in the way that you did it. Sort of a gamble, though." Adam smiled again and shifted in an obvious manner.

"No gamble. Lizzie is a very compassionate, sweet girl, I knew what her answer would be before I asked the question. Be glad I didn't ask the same thing of Sally."

Adam shifted in his seat again. "About Sally, she was down here earlier. She claimed to have come down for cookies, but after she talked to me for a while, she admitted that she was worried she was in trouble with her grandpa for having a good time in the store today."

"I know. I think Joshua is being a bit too tough on her. He seems to be of the mind that if he treats her like his own father treated him, she'll stop being so naughty. I think you and Jim Mason have made more progress with her than Joshua has."

"I have to wonder why she didn't seek out Ruth. Even when Lizzie is worried that I'll be angry with her she still comes to find me for comfort."

"I'm not sure Ruth knows how to be a mother to Sally. Sally has always gotten what she wants and has done as she pleased, but I am not so sure that she has learned to turn to Ruth or Joshua for the non-tangible things she needs."

"So, what do we do?"

"I don't know, Adam." Ben shook his head slowly. "But for now, I think we both need to head off to bed."

Adam and Ben stood and Ben put his hand on Adam's shoulder as they walked up the stairs together. Adam found that he was starting to find bed more appealing especially after sharing his concerns with his father. He had just gotten into bed and was reaching for the light on the bedside table, when his door opened. There stood Lizzie with wide eyes and her stuffed horse.

"Bad dreams?" He asked and held up the covers.

Lizzie nodded and slid into bed next to him.

"Want to tell me about it?" Adam asked, but Lizzie was already asleep, and Adam was too, as soon as he put out the light.


	18. Beginning the Day

Adam opened his eyes to see Lizzie kneeling and sitting on her heels watching him.

"Morning, honey. How did you sleep? No more nightmares, I hope," Adam reached under his back and pulled out Clomp, the stuffed horse.

"No more nightmares after I came in here," Lizzie smiled and took the horse from Adam.

"So, Clomp couldn't scare the mares off last night, huh?"

"He tried Papa, but they were just too big and scary that's why I came in here…" Lizzie looked a little fretful.

"You are always welcome in my room," Adam said as he held out his arm to have her snuggle next to him and lay her head on his chest. "As long as you give Clomp a fair chance to try and chase the nightmares away first."

"He tried. I promise," Lizzie said and nodded her head on his chest.

"Well, I guess there is only so much one horse can do," Adam said reassuringly, giving her a hug. He wanted Lizzie to learn to deal with her fears but he didn't want her to feel that she couldn't come to him when they became overwhelming.

They lay together on the bed in silence for a while and Adam was almost dozing off when Lizzie said, "Papa, did Grandpa really take you out to the barn when you were a little boy?"

"You know he did, honey, a few times." Adam said as his eyes popped open.

"Were you scared?"

"Scared? No…mostly nervous, I think, and angry," Adam said thoughtfully.

"At Grandpa?" Lizzie sat up a little trying to see Adam's face.

"No, I wasn't angry at Grandpa. It wasn't his fault I was going to be punished. I was angry with myself. Maybe angry isn't the best word. Regretful is probably better. I regretted doing something that resulted in a trip out to the barn with your grandpa." Adam twisted his head so that you could look at Lizzie. "Do you feel scared when you are in trouble with me and know that you are going to be punished?" Adam put his head back on the pillow, closed his eyes and waited for the answer with a little bit of trepidation.

Lizzie put her head back down on Adam's chest before she answered. "No, not scared. I mostly feel sad. I think it would be scary going out to the barn though."

"So, you're not scared of me or grandpa, just going out to the barn." Adam waited again.

Lizzie nodded.

"I usually felt sad afterward and relieved." Adam continued, opening his eyes and feeling very relieved.

"Relieved, what's relieved?"

"You know when you are nervous and have all those butterflies in your stomach about something and then the thing that you are nervous about happens and you aren't nervous anymore? That feeling that all the butterflies are gone is relief."

"I still feel sad afterward," Lizzie said.

Adam gave Lizzie another hug and patted her arm. They lapsed into silence again.

"Papa?" Lizzie said quietly. "May I go outside today?"

"Did you finish everything on the list I gave you?"

"Almost."

"Well, finish the list and we'll talk about it then," Adam turned and kissed the top of Lizzie's head.

"All right," Lizzie sighed.

Adam smiled again. "I'm proud of you, honey," he said after a moment.

Lizzie looked up at him, "Why?"

"'Cause you didn't argue with me about staying inside. I know how hard it is to mind me about this. Having you cooperate with the restriction and not complain makes me proud of you." He gave her another quick squeeze. "Now, it is probably time for us to get up and get on with the day."

Adam put his hands behind his head and watched Lizzie walk out of the room with Clomp and smiled. He was proud of her and almost overwhelmed with how blessed and lucky he felt to have her as his daughter.

Adam got dressed and as he came down the hallway, he heard Sally yelling. "I'm going outside."

"No, you, naughty girl. You stay inside. You not go outside alone."

Adam sighed and almost, almost turned and went back to his room. He wanted to return to those quiet moments with Lizzie, but he couldn't leave Hop Sing down there alone to face Sally. Adam came down the stairs and saw the stand off between Hop Sing and Sally. Glancing around the room, he saw no one else was downstairs yet, so it was up to him to intervene. He really thought they had turned a corner yesterday, but bad habits were hard to break.

Hop Sing was blocking Sally's way to the door and Sally was glaring at him with her arms crossed. Hop Sing looked up and seeing Adam said, "This naughty girl." He gestured at her with the spoon he held in his hand.

"She want to go outside. I say no. She vely naughty. I go back China." Hop Sing went back towards the kitchen complaining in Cantonese and leaving Adam to deal with Sally. Sally jumped to the door and began to open it. Adam came down the stairs quickly and putting his hand on the front door, kept Sally from opening it any farther.

"Sally, you are not to go outside." Adam started calmly.

"Why not? I want to go outside. Nobody's up yet. I want to see the horses."

"You may go outside after breakfast, while we are doing our chores. It isn't safe to be outside alone."

"You let Lizzie outside alone," Sally said defiantly.

"Lizzie grew up here. She knows how to be outside safely. You, on the other hand, do not. Now," Adam took her arm and led her over to the dining table. "You'll sit right here in your place at the table until everyone else is up. You'll eat breakfast without complaining and then you will be allowed outside." Adam pulled the chair out from the table, pulled the pillow from its seat and tossed it to the couch. He then put Sally in the chair. He pushed her in and poured himself a cup of coffee before turning to go and sit on the couch.

"I WANT…TO…GO…OUTSIDE!" Sally pounded on the table with each word.

Adam put his cup calmly on the coffee table, stood up and came back to the table. He placed his hand over her pounding hands and leaning in very close to her he said in a quiet, low voice, "While you are here, you will do as you are told. You will mind the adults who are here including Hop Sing and you will not throw tantrums. If you want to go outside today or anytime for the rest of the time you are here, you will sit there quietly and wait for everyone else to get up. Am I clear?"

Sally swallowed hard and looked up at him with a frown.

"Last night you were worried about a spanking from your grandpa. I guarantee you; you are far closer to a spanking right now than you were with your grandpa. If you want to go outside today, stop being deliberately naughty and do as you are told." Adam patted her hands and went back to his coffee. Sally folded her hands over her chest and pouted, but she didn't get out of the chair and she didn't pound the table. Adam sat in the chair near the fire where he could keep an eye on her, crossed his legs and picked up the abandoned book from last night.

Within the next ten minutes, Ben made his appearance. Seeing Sally sitting at the table and pouting, he turned to Adam, "This morning hasn't started well, has it?"

"No, Pa. Sally wanted to go outside and gave Hop Sing a hard time when he prevented it. I decided she needed to sit at the table and wait for breakfast." Adam threw a frown in Sally's direction.

Ben growled and walked past Sally to pour himself a cup of coffee. Joe and Hoss were the next down stairs and they wisely didn't ask what was going on. Lizzie came downstairs and Adam grabbed her as she went past pulling her into his lap.

Adam saw her look around at the frowning adults and stiffen a little, "Love you, Liz," he said and felt her relax.

When Ruth and Joshua came down, everyone moved towards the table and joined Sally. Joshua looked from Adam to Ben and knew that something had happened, but since he really didn't want to know, he didn't ask.

Adam could tell Sally was still pouting. She grimaced and rolled her eyes at everything that was put on her plate, but a raised eyebrow had her eating without complaining, at which point he ignored her and engaged in conversation with Lizzie and the others at the table. After breakfast, everyone stood to get to their chores.

"Hoss, Sally wanted to go outside. Do you think she might come along with you?" Adam as he said that, he realized he should probably be deferring to Joshua and Ruth and turning to them said, "If that's all right with you Joshua, Ruth?" After getting the nod from them, Hoss reached out and took Sally's hand, walked her outside.

"Lizzie, honey. Clear the table and then come outside to do your chores." Adam walked to the rack on the wall, pulled down his hat and went through the front door. Lizzie glanced around at those still at the table and got busy clearing. The sooner she got outside, the happier she was going to be. As she passed her grandpa with her first load, he reached out to stroke her hair. "You're a sweet girl, Lizzie," he said fondly.

After Lizzie had finished with the dishes she had gone outside; she finished her outdoor chores more quickly than she would have liked and had been sent back inside by her papa. She sadly trudged back inside leaving her entire family and Sally outside. Staying inside was going to be even harder with her whole family outside. She sighed and went looking for the list from day before and finally found it on the china cabinet near the dining room table. There were more unfinished chores on it than she had remembered. She had wanted to be done by noon, but it looked like that wasn't going to be possible, especially if she did the kind of job with the chores that she knew was expected of her. She walked over to the couch and threw herself down on it with a sigh.

Joshua looked up at her from his seat near the fireplace, "Is something wrong?"

"No, I just have a lot of chores on Papa's list still to do and I won't be allowed back outside until they are done." Lizzie said sadly.

"A list of chores?" Joshua frowned and shook his head not understanding.

"Papa is punishing me for disobeying him. I have to finish the chores on the list before we can discuss when I will be allowed back outside without an adult. I hate being stuck inside," Lizzie said sheepishly.

"So, you must pretty angry at your Papa for punishing you."

"No, it's not his fault I'm being punished." Lizzie sighed again. After looking at the list once more, she put the list on the table and went upstairs to get busy.

Joshua watched her go and found he was jealous...again.


	19. Course Corrections

**Your wonderful reviews inspired me! So, another chapter started nagging me sooner than it normally does. Lajoci, I agree with you that Joshua needed to be smacked in the head. Adam and Ben took care of that chore. Daisymae, Sierra Rose and Gaben, I hope that they got through to him.**

Lizzie stood at the window of her bedroom staring down at the scene below. Her Uncle Joe was mounting his horse, her papa was getting ready to chop some wood and her Uncle Hoss and Sally were watching the palomino and talking. She wondered if she could go outside with all of them. She wouldn't be outside without an adult. There were four adults out there if she counted Mr. Brown, who was walking across the yard towards her father, but her papa had sent her back in the house to work on the list. She was really starting to hate that list. She was never going to get everything done. She stomped her foot and threw herself on the bed.

Adam had just picked up the axe and placed the wood on the chopping block when Joshua approached him.

"You are lucky to have such a well-behaved, sweet daughter, Adam."

"You know, Joshua, you're right," Adam said in a frustrated voice as he swung the axe and left it in the chopping block. "I _am_ lucky to have a such a sweet daughter, but luck has next to nothing to do with her good behavior. It has taken work on my family's part, on my part and on Lizzie's part. It is not some magic thing that just fell into our laps." He gestured angrily with his hands. "I adore that little girl," he pointed towards the house, "but she is far from perfect. She has the Cartwright temper, she has moments when she sasses me, when she's disobedient and when she whines." Adam's voice began to grow louder. Ben heard Adam's raised voice and walked over to join them.

"Now, Adam," Ben said trying to calm him down.

No, Pa, we have been dancing around this issue for the last three days." Adam retorted, but he lowered his voice and glanced at his father before turning back to Joshua. "If you want a well-behaved granddaughter, you need to start showing her what you expect. You've passed your responsibility to us the last two days, and we've taken it on willingly, but you can't continue to shirk it. You've got to take responsibility for what you want: for the kind of granddaughter you are raising. "

"You've built a successful business from the ground up. Did you start the business, get it going and then just leave it alone to grow on its own? No! You worked everyday to make it better. Did you think a child would be any different? I know that you think Ruth was an easy child to raise, but I wonder if she was as easy as you think. It seems your wife did the majority of the child rearing. Sally is challenging it's true, but get a backbone and start guiding her. Last night she was downstairs afraid to come to you and be comforted because she thought you were angry at her and were going to spank her again." Adam took another deep breath and met the shocked eyes of Joshua. "This morning, she pitched a fit because we wouldn't let her go outside by herself. Tell me the truth. When you came downstairs, did you not know that Sally was being disciplined? Did you honestly think she was sitting at the table voluntarily? So, Joshua, what kind of grandpa are you going to be? The one that thinks a spanking is the cure all for bad behavior or one that ignores the fact that his granddaughter is misbehaving? At least be consistent so that she'll know what to expect."

Joshua stared at Adam in disbelief. He had never been spoken to that way and was not sure if he should walk away or take a swing at Adam. Deciding that the best thing to do would be to walk away, he turned and headed down the path to the pond. With an exasperated glance at Adam, Ben followed him.

"Joshua," Ben finally caught up to the angry man.

"Do you agree with your son?" Joshua gestured angrily in the direction of the house.

"You're not going to want to hear this, Joshua, but yes. I agree with him. I am not happy with the way he chose to deliver the message, but yes, I agree with him."

Joshua turned away and crossed his arms.

Ben pitched his voice gently and said, "What Adam said is true. Raising children is work: hard, frustrating and rewarding but still work. Sally is the child that she is because of the way that you and Ruth have been raising her. If you want her to behave differently, you are going to need to put in the time and effort to help her change. That first night that you all were here, we discussed that Lizzie tries to obey Adam because she loves him and wants to make him happy. Despite the love and respect she has for him, she has misbehaved this week. Adam has had to spank her, put her in the corner and on restriction. However, she has still sought him out to sit in his lap and spend time with him. Your granddaughter was downstairs last night in Adam's lap worried about what you thought about her. Is that what you want? Are you willing to have her turn to others because you refuse to accept the responsibility for raising her and showing her the affection she needs?"

"Ben, I just don't know what to do."

"People told me when I left the east that I should leave Adam there to be raised. I decided that he was my son and I wanted to raise him, warts and all I did the best I could for him. Adam makes decisions for Lizzie with which I don't always agree, but in the main, I am proud of the woman he is raising. She is sweet and she is well behaved and thoughtful and compassionate and it hasn't been because of luck, it has been because Adam puts in the time and effort to encourage those qualities. Take up the responsibility, Joshua. Spend time with Sally and help her change, don't just moon around wishing Sally were different and being jealous of Adam and Lizzie. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen if you put in the time." Ben patted his friend on the shoulder before turning to go back towards the house and leaving Joshua to think about what had been said.

* * *

><p>Lizzie had had a long day. She hadn't made much progress on the list because she had spent a lot of the day resenting that she was still having to stay inside. Sally had been out all day with her Uncle Hoss and they had just come home. She was sitting on the couch pouting and listening to Sally telling her mother and grandpa all the things she had done. The more Lizzie listened, the angrier she got. Her papa just had to let her outside, she thought. He just had to.<p>

Adam had barely come through the door when Lizzie threw herself at him.

"Papa, when can I go outside again?"

""Did you finish the list?" Adam asked as he removed his gun belt and hat, putting them on the cabinet near the door.

"Almost."

"As I told you this morning, we'll talk about it when the list is finished."

"That's not fair. I've worked two days on that list. I'll never get it done," Lizzie whined and stomped her foot. She balled up her hands and followed Adam to his chair near the fire.

"I want to go outside," she whined some more.

"I know that, Lizzie, but not until the list is finished and if you keep whining you might not get to go outside even when the list _is_ finished."

"That's not fair," she stomped her foot again. "Sally was outside all day while I was stuck in here." She folded her arms and dropped her chin to her chest.

"Sally is not being punished. You are. Whining and complaining about it will only get you into more trouble. Now, enough, when the list is done we'll talk."

"I want to talk now!" She raised her voice.

At that loud declaration all eyes in the room were on Lizzie and Adam.

"No." He looked her directly in the eye.

With that single word, Lizzie let her temper go. It had been on a slow simmer all day and she screamed, "You're not fair!"

"Go to your room, now," Adam commanded is a dangerously low voice.

Lizzie heard the low angry tone of his voice and got herself in enough control to stomp up the stairs and slam her door.

"Excuse me," Adam said politely to everyone in the room and followed his daughter up the stairs. He opened her door and closed it quietly behind him. He walked over to her wardrobe and pulled down her nightgown. Without a word, he pulled Lizzie off the bed, where she was glowering, and put the nightgown in her hands.

"Go to bed."

"Papa…" Lizzie started in an angry tone.

"No, not a word." He held his finger up. "Put on your nightgown and get in bed."

Lizzie stomped over to the screen in the corner to change and Adam began to pull down the covers of the bed. When she emerged a few minutes later, he gestured towards the bed. Lizzie jumped into bed with a "humph" and turned herself away from him. Adam pulled the covers up over her.

Adam stood with crossed arms, watching her back for a few minutes before he said, "We'll discuss the end of your restriction when you have finished the list and you can use a respectful tone with me." He paused a long moment. "You think about that."

Adam came back downstairs to expectant eyes. "I've put Lizzie to bed for the night. Joe, I was supposed to meet Carolyn tonight, but I don't think I can leave. Would you mind giving her my apologies?"

"Sure, Adam," Joe said quietly.

"Son, I think you deserve a night off. I will be home tonight and I will watch over Lizzie." Ben said.

"Pa, I appreciate that, but I don't think we've seen the last of that attitude for the night. I don't want you to have to deal with it."

"I've dealt with angry children before. I'm sure I can handle anything she can throw at me. Go," Ben waved his hand at Adam, "have a good time."

"Are you sure about that? She's worked up quite a head of steam."

"I'm sure. I have dealt with more than one Cartwright temper. I am sure it will be fine."

"Thanks, Pa. I'll be right down, Joe," Adam rushed up the stairs to get ready for the night.

Thirty minutes later, Adam, Hoss and Joe and headed to town and Ben, Ruth, Joshua and Sally were finishing dinner. Ben glanced up to see Lizzie on the landing.

"Lizzie, you're supposed to be in bed."

"Is Papa here?"

"No, he is out for the night."

"What about supper?" She asked, stalling.

"Elizabeth…bed….now!" Ben commanded in a low voice.

Lizzie turned, stomped up the stairs and everyone at the table jumped when the door slammed.

"Excuse me, please," Ben said as he folded his napkin and stood. He walked slowly up the stairs to Lizzie's room. Opening the door, he found Lizzie leaning against the pillows, with her arms crossed and a frown on her face. He stood there with crossed arms staring at her until she finally couldn't stand it anymore and she glanced up at him.

"Have you thought about why you are up here?" Ben asked.

"'Cause Papa's unfair," Lizzie said petulantly. "I can't sleep. I shouldn't have to stay in bed."

"You are in bed because you were extremely disrespectful to you father. Since you can't sleep, you should be up here thinking about how you are going to start fresh with him tomorrow. Stomping around and slamming doors is a poor way to behave. There's no excuse for that type of behavior. "

"I've been inside for two days, Grandpa." Lizzie whined.

"And you think disrespect and shows of temper are going to get him to change his mind? Seems to me you're just digging yourself in deeper. You don't have to sleep, you just think about why you aren't allowed outside and why you are up here in bed early. Seems to me that your bad attitude is showing that you haven't learned your lesson yet. Now, I do not want to see you out of bed again. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Lizzie kept her face turned away from him and her arms crossed.

Ben reached out and uncrossed her arms and turned her face to look at him. "I expect you to speak to me respectfully too, even when you're angry. So, let's try that again, I want you to stay in bed, all right?" He said in a softer tone.

"Yes, Grandpa," she sighed.

"Good," Ben leaned down and kissed her cheek before leaving her room and closing the door softly behind him.


	20. Round Two

Adam sat on the front porch quietly sipping his coffee and watching the sunrise. He glanced up when he heard the front door open, but looked back at the sun when Joshua stepped out of the door.

"Mind if I join you?"

Adam gestured at the empty chairs.

"You're up early," Joshua said as he took a seat.

"Fortifying myself for round two," Adam said wryly and took a sip of coffee.

"Round two?" Joshua glanced over at Adam with raised eyebrows.

"I'm dealing with an angry eight year old who feels that she is being treated unfairly. I highly doubt that being sent to bed early without supper is going to help change that. So, I am fortifying myself for round two," Adam took another sip of coffee and narrowed his eyes.

"At the risk of sounding like a man who thinks spanking is the cure all for bad behavior. Are you going to spank her?"

"About that, Joshua…Lizzie is not the only one with a Cartwright temper," Adam said shifting in his seat.

"No, Adam wait, I spent yesterday considering what you and Ben said, and you're right. I asked for your help and then refused to step up and take responsibility. I've been jealous of what you have with Lizzie but didn't acknowledge how hard won that relationship is. I guess I did think that you had just been blessed with the perfect child."

"Nevertheless, Joshua, I shouldn't have let my temper get the best of me and I should have been more careful with my words."

"Well, Adam," Joshua clapped Adam on the shoulder, "to quote your father, I'm not happy with the delivery, but I agree with the message. I want to have a well-behaved granddaughter that comes to me for comfort even when she thinks I'm angry with her and I'm willing to do what I have to do to have what you and Lizzie have with each other."

Adam nodded and sat back. They sat quietly watching the sun climb.

"So, have you considered what you _are_ going to do about Lizzie?"

"Yes, but a lot of that depends on how she is when she gets up. You asked about spanking and I don't think that's the solution in this case. She's angry and disrespectful, but she hasn't been disobedient. I told her to go to her room last night and she stomped upstairs and slammed her door, but she did it. I sent her to bed and she put on her nightgown and huffed and puffed, but she went. Pa was in bed by the time I got home last night, so I'm not sure how she behaved with him, but he has a look that can freeze water, so I doubt she gave him too much trouble."

"She came downstairs last night shortly after you left, but Ben sent her back to bed and she went with more stomping of feet and slamming of doors. Ben followed her upstairs and we didn't see her for the rest of the night," Joshua laughed softly. "I hate to admit it, Adam, but I'm almost glad to see this side of Lizzie. When I first met her I thought she was the perfect child. I'm relieved to see that even she can have her bad days and you can have your difficult moments with her."

Adam snorted softly, "Yes, Joshua, Lizzie is not the perfect child, nor am I the perfect father. She's just a little girl who doesn't always behave as she should, but even when she is putting me through my paces like she is now, I still wouldn't trade her for the world. We'll get through this rough spot and hopefully, next time she'll do better. In her defense, though, this sort of behavior is not typical."

"So, why do you think she's behaving this way?"

"The truth?" Adam turned to look at Joshua.

"I'm not completely sure I want to hear your answer, but, yes, the truth." Joshua said meeting Adam's eye.

"I think she sees Sally misbehaving and either getting away with it or not facing the same stiff consequences that she would face in the same situation. Lizzie shouted that it wasn't fair three or four times yesterday. I think she sees that the standards for her behavior are, sorry Joshua, much higher than they are for Sally and she finds that unfair and, to be honest, it is."

"I've already agreed to step up and be tougher with Sally. Is there anything I can do?"

"No, truth be told, Lizzie is a Cartwright and she will always be expected to meet a higher standard. Not just from the family, but from the community at large. Pa's set the bar pretty high in this town and all of us have had to come to terms with it. The sooner that Lizzie accepts the inherent unfairness the better."

"And in the meantime?"

"In the meantime, I continue to enforce rules and consequences and try to get her to see that she deserves the punishment that she's received and that railing on about how unfair it all is is a fruitless endeavor."

"So, Lizzie's eight," Joshua cocked his head, "when did you come to terms with the unfair expectations placed on you as a Cartwright?"

"Oh, sometime around twenty-five," Adam laughed ruefully. "But she is much brighter than I was."

Joshua smirked.

"I try to look at this in the long term. She's a female and as with any female she isn't afraid of showing her emotions. She just needs to learn self-control and to express herself and those emotions in acceptable ways. She has every right to be angry with me and she has every right to tell me that she's angry, just not in a screaming fury. What started out as her being punished for disobedience has turned into her learning to accept that just because someone else is getting away with misbehavior doesn't mean that she will and she needs to accept responsibility for the situation she finds herself in with good grace. She is being punished for what she did and she deserves it. Once she figures out that if she had just gotten through the list I'd given her we'd be on the other side of this now she'll settle down. Until then I guess we are in a contest of wills and I'll keep offering her a way out of the trouble in which she finds herself."

"So, what's next?"

"I wait her out. I give her a chance to get her emotions in check, being inside with plenty of chores and plenty of alone time to think will give her that chance. She'll come around and then we'll talk about how she should have behaved." Adam glanced at the sun that had risen above the horizon. "I think it's probably time for me to put on my armor and go inside."

Adam stood and walked in the door with Joshua following him.

"Morning, Pa," Adam said as he walked in the door and saw his father pouring a cup of coffee.

"Good morning, Adam, Joshua," Ben nodded at them.

"How'd it go with Lizzie last night?" Adam asked.

"Oh, fine. She got up once but I sent her back to bed and she went," Ben laughed softly. "She's pretty angry with you."

"I noticed," Adam smiled. "Thanks for taking the watch for me. It was nice to get away and to see Carolyn."

"It was no problem, Adam. I was glad to give you the chance to get away."

The three men turned to see Lizzie coming down the stairs.

"Good morning, Lizzie," said Ben.

"Morning," Lizzie said as she plopped down on the couch, putting her back to them.

"Good morning, Lizzie," said Adam with a smile lurking around his lips.

"Morning," Lizzie said.

Joshua winked at the two men, "Good morning, Lizzie," Joshua said.

Lizzie sighed, "Good morning, Mr. Brown."

The three men walked over to the sitting area in front of the fire with Ben and Adam taking their usual seats and Joshua taking a seat on the couch next to Lizzie, who promptly stood up and moved over to the office area to look out of the windows. The men exchanged glances and knowing smiles and began a conversation about their plans for the day. Hoss, Joe, Ruth and Sally joined the rest of them downstairs pretty quickly and they all moved to the table, except Lizzie.

"Honey, breakfast time," Adam called.

"Not hungry."

Glancing around the table, Adam stood and walked over to where Lizzie was looking out of the window.

"Breakfast time," Adam said again and putting his hands on her shoulders he walked her over to the table and guided her into her chair. The meal began with everyone passing the dishes of food and Adam served Lizzie when she didn't take the bowl out of his hands the first time he tried to pass it to her.

"I said, I'm not hungry," Lizzie said.

"You didn't have dinner last night and you need to eat something this morning. If you don't eat you won't be allowed outside to do chores," with those words, Adam turned and joined the conversation.

"I don't want breakfast either," whined Sally. "I hate scrambled eggs."

"Sally, you'll sit at the table until your plate is clean, now not another word," said Joshua.

He looked up to see Ben and Adam nodding in solidarity. Hoss and Joe glanced at the two girls who both began eating very slowly and then promptly ignored them as all the other adults were doing.

When both girls had finished what was on their plates, Adam stood to go out to start his chores. "Clear the table and come out to help me, Lizzie." He said as he walked out the door.

Lizzie stood up, picked up her plate and walked it slowly to the kitchen before coming out for the next plate. Ben, Hoss and Joe watched the slow clearing process, before as a group they stood up, gather the remaining dishes amongst them and took them into the kitchen.

"Go help your Papa, Lizzie," Ben said putting an arm around her shoulders and started walking her toward the door.

Lizzie frowned at the men when she saw that they had finished her chore for her and she frowned again when Joe walked up and motioned to her and said, "Come on, I'll walk out with you." Ben dropped his arm from around Lizzie's shoulders and Joe replaced it with his and he ushered her out to where Adam had started filling the feeding troughs.

Once Joe had delivered Lizzie to Adam he went into the barn to begin mucking out the stalls.

"I filled that pail with corn, Lizzie, go feed the chickens." Lizzie picked up the pail and began to scatter the corn. When her pail was empty, Adam came into the chicken yard with a basket and said, "Come help me gather the eggs."

"I can do it, Papa," said Lizzie in a short tone.

"I know you can, but I think it would be nice if we worked together this morning. We haven't had much time to spend together the last couple of days."

Lizzie was able to stop the quick retort that formed on her lips and she silently followed Adam around finishing up the chores with him. Once the chores were done, Adam sat down on the chopping block and called Lizzie over to him. She stood in front of him staring just past his left shoulder.

"I looked over your list this morning and I think you can finish everything up that's not done today. So, I want you to work really hard so that we can talk about things tonight, all right?" Adam leaned sideways to get into her line of sight while he reached out to tuck a lock of hair behind Lizzie's ear. "I really want you to be off restriction, but that's not going to happen until the list is done and we have talked, so please, Honey, try to finish up by tonight, all right?" Adam smiled a small smile at her.

Lizzie nodded.

"All right, Lizzie, go back inside. I want you to wait until I get home to work on outside chores tonight. Hear me?"

Lizzie nodded again and turned to walk slowly back to the house, kicking at the ground as she went.

Adam walked into the barn. "Hey, Joe. I don't want Lizzie to start her chores tonight until I get home, all right? And thanks for bringing her out to me."

"Sure, Adam. I'm not the only one responsible for bringing her out to you though. She was clearing the table a plate at a time, stalling around, so Pa, Hoss and I cleared the table for her and herded her out the door. I think we all remembered how Pa used to make us spend time with him when we were in hot water. It's hard to stay angry at someone when they're being nice to you."

"I remember how he used to do that to me too. That's why I want her to have to wait to do chores until I get home."

"No problem."

Adam walked inside to get his gun belt.

"Pa, Hoss thanks for helping with Lizzie this morning. I want to do chores with her tonight too, so don't let her get started until I get home, all right?"

"Sure big brother," said Hoss.

"All right, son," said Ben with a smile.


	21. Accepting Correction

**I took a section from the previous chapter and pasted it here. It seemed to work better. This chapter was challenging to write, but I hope you all enjoy it.**

After Adam and Hoss had left, Ben glanced around the room and saw Lizzie coming down the stairs with a rag. She walked slowly over to the office area and began wiping down the furniture.

"Thank you, Lizzie. Those spider webs were really starting to get out of control." Ben walked over to sit in the chair at the desk.

"You're welcome, Grandpa," Lizzie said sadly.

"Come over here," Ben motioned with his arm. "I haven't gotten my morning hug, yet."

He held his arms open and Lizzie stepped in to give him a quick squeeze.

"That little hug isn't going to last me all day," Ben said sadly as he cocked his head and looked at her with the hint of a smile.

Lizzie wrapped her arms around his neck and held on a little longer, this time when she tried to pull away, Ben held on tight and whispered, "I'm glad to see that you're trying to finish the list and I'm glad to see that your temper is back under control." He gave her another squeeze before letting her go and catching her hand as she pulled back.

"I love you, Lizzie," Ben said softly ducking his head down to look her in the eyes.

"I love you too, Grandpa," Lizzie said after a moment. "I'm sorry about last night."

"I know you are," Ben said reassuringly. "Tempers are hard things to control sometimes; I still fight with mine. Unfortunately, your temper has been getting you into a lot of trouble lately, hasn't it?"

Lizzie nodded slowly and looked down.

"Lizzie, all you can do when your temper gets the best of you is apologize and try to do better. I can see you're doing that…"

Ben frowned when all Lizzie said was, "Yes, Grandpa."

Ben stood. "All right, honey," he said with a smile. "Try to have a good day. I'll see you when I get home." He reached out to stroke her hair and then went outside to find Ruth, Joshua and Sally.

Ben located Joshua and his family watching the palomino.

"He's quite beautiful, isn't he?" Ben asked as he walked up.

"When can I ride him, Ben?" Asked Sally.

Ben frowned a bit at the use of his first name and said, "Oh, he isn't ready to be ridden by anyone. He's never even had a saddle on him. It will be a while yet before he can be ridden."

"I'll bet I could ride him. I'm a good rider."

I'm sure you are, but for now, that horse is off limits." Ben furrowed his brow and looked at Sally sternly for a long moment. Then he shook his head and said with a smile, "So, are we ready to head out? We have a long ride ahead of us today."

They walked over to the buggy and Sally started to climb into the front.

"Ah, ah, Sally, back seat," Joshua said.

"I told you already I can't see from the back seat," Sally said angrily.

Joshua reached out and picking Sally up he put her in the back seat. "And I told you, back seat." He said firmly.

Sally huffed, folded her arms across her chest and frowned. Seeing the petulant look on her face, Ben stifled a smile and coughed trying to cover the laugh that bubbled up unbidden. Joshua took the seat that he had pulled Sally from and after Ben had helped Ruth into the back, he climbed in next to Joshua and they rode out of the yard.

They had ridden for a couple of hours when Ben saw a quiet pond and suggested a break.

"Joshua, I seem to remember you had quite the ability to skip stones, maybe you can show Sally." Ben said as he helped Ruth down.

"What do you say, Sally? Do you want to learn how to skip stones?" Joshua asked as he reached out his hand to her.

"I guess," Sally said sullenly, ignoring the hand and jumping down.

As they walked off, Ben led Ruth to a shady patch of grass under some trees and spread out a blanket.

"How are you enjoying your stay at the Ponderosa, Ruth?" Ben asked as he settled down next to her.

"Very much, you have a lovely home, Ben. I can't believe how much land you take care of, it's overwhelming."

Ben laughed, "Sometimes it is, but we work together and get through the tough times."

"Do you ever miss the city? Pa said that you were in the east for most of your life."

"I did at first. It can be difficult out here, remote as we are. We have to be self-sufficient. The worst part is probably when one of us gets hurt. It is a long way to town. I have come to love the wide-open spaces, though, and I'm not sure if I could live in a city now. I think I would miss the elbow room."

That sat in companionable silence for a while, when Ruth said, "Ben, what happened to Lizzie's mother?"

"Scarlet fever: we lost Sarah over four years ago."

"Was Adam living with you at the time?"

"No, he had a place of his own, but after Sarah's death, he decided that he was going to need help with Lizzie. He couldn't leave her alone during the day since she was only four and truth be told, they both needed family around. I have always been glad that he made that decision to move back in with us. Adam was always involved in the ranch, so I saw him every day, but I didn't see Lizzie nearly as often. I've enjoyed having a little girl around to spoil."

Ruth smiled, "She is a darling little girl and I would hardly call her spoiled."

"Well, Adam is a good father and I think that the way he is raising her is pretty successful in counteracting any spoiling I might do." Ben laughed.

Ruth turned her attention to her father and daughter.

"Do you think there is any hope for Sally?" She asked timidly. "I fear my father and I have spoiled Sally to the point that there is no going back."

"No, Ruth," Ben said seriously. "I don't think it is too late. You and your father need to work together, though. You have to be willing to let her be angry and upset with you. Lizzie is not happy with either Adam or myself right now and although neither of us like it that she feels that way, we're riding it out and not trying to placate her. No one in the family wants to live with a child who has learned to get her way through temper tantrums and defiance."

Ruth glanced back at Ben when he said those words and then quickly looked away with a blush. Ben allowed the silence to settle between them.

Their attention was drawn towards Joshua and Sally when they heard her shouting, "I can't do it." She threw down the rocks in her hands and stomped back to where Ben and Ruth were sitting.

"Sally," Joshua said firmly. "It takes some time to learn. You need to practice until you get it."

"No, I don't want to learn!" She shouted.

"Sally, get back over here." Joshua called from the edge of the pond.

"No!"

Ben raised his eyebrows and looked pointedly at Ruth.

"Sally, your grandpa is calling you, go back over there." Ruth said pointing at Joshua.

"No!"

Ruth looked questioningly at Ben.

"Take her by the hand, Ruth, and make her mind you," Ben whispered encouragingly.

Ruth got up from the blanket and taking Sally's hand she all but carried her back to Joshua. Sally dragged her feet and pulled on her mother with both hands but Ruth continued her forward momentum with determination until they were back at the edge of the pond.

"You do not run from me and you come to me when I call, Sally," Joshua said shaking his finger in Sally's face.

"I can't skip stones and I don't want to learn," with that, Sally threw herself on the ground and began writhing around.

Ben watched the scene play out and saw Joshua getting more and more exasperated and angry. He stood finally deciding he probably needed to get involved.

Walking over to them, he gestured with his hand, "Joshua, Ruth, why don't you come back to the shade while Sally finishes up having her temper tantrum."

They looked at him with a bit of relief and followed him back to the blanket, leaving Sally on the shore.

They did the best they could to ignore Sally and started up a conversation amongst themselves. When Sally realized that they had left her alone, she stood up and walking over to them, she threw herself back on the ground near them and continued her tantrum.

"Joshua," Ben called over the noise. "Will you teach Ruth and me to skip stones? I was fairly good at it as a boy, but I haven't tried in years." Ben stood and helping Ruth to her feet, he stepped around Sally and headed back to the pond. "Have you ever skipped stones, Ruth?" He asked slipping her hand over his arm.

"Why, no Ben. I'm a city girl, not too many ponds to skip stones on there." She laughed cheerily, trying to ignore Sally and follow Ben's lead.

The three adults continued on to the pond and started collecting flat stones as the tantrum continued from the blanket.

"Now the trick is to find a stone that is almost perfectly flat and then you hold it in the crook of your finger and try to make it spin," Joshua let a stone fly off his finger and they watched it skip across the pond three times.

"It only skipped three times because I didn't throw it flat enough or fast enough."

Ben tried to skip the stone as Joshua had shown them, but his went directly to the bottom without skipping at all. Ruth was able to make her first rock skip once, but the second went straight to the bottom as did Ben's second attempt. The crying from the blankets had stopped and they continued to concentrate on learning to skip the stones. When Sally joined them at the pond's edge still whimpering and drawing in hitched breathes, they continued to ignore her.

"I want to try," Sally demanded.

" I seem to recall you said you didn't want to learn, Sally. I'm sure your mother and grandpa wouldn't want you to do something you don't want to do. You can just wait for us over on the blanket." Ben turned from her and laughed as his next stone skipped once. "I think I'm getting the hang of it."

Ruth laughed, "I thought I was too, Ben, but my last three stones haven't skipped at all." Her eyes darted towards Sally, but she quickly directed her attention back to the pond to watch her pa make his stone skip five times.

"Ha," he grinned. "Now that is more like it."

Sally picked up a stone and tried to make it skip, but it dropped to the bottom of the pond with a splash. She tried a couple more stones and then went to sulk on one of the rocks near the shoreline. Each of the adults tried a few more stones and then Ben suggested that they needed to be on their way. Ruth went over to Sally and taking her hand they walked back to the buggy and headed the last few miles into town.

As the buggy stopped in front of the land survey office, Ben leaned over to Joshua and said quietly under his breath, "Let Sally know what you expect from her before we go inside and what will happen if she doesn't behave."

Joshua nodded and got out of the buggy, lifting Sally down. "Now, Sally," he said, "in the meeting you need to be quiet and let the adults talk. You aren't to interrupt because if you do, you'll find yourself in the corner. Do you understand?'

Sally sighed, "Yes."

They walked into the office and Ruth got Sally arranged on a couch with a book before joining the men at the table. For the first ten minutes, Sally was quiet, but then she began to swing her legs and kick the couch leg. After a few more minutes she got up and demanded to be taken to the outhouse. When Ruth took her, she took a very long time. After they returned, Sally didn't go back to the couch, but she toured the room opening drawers and cabinets.

Ben became exasperated before Joshua did and finally said, "Joshua, perhaps Sally would be quieter in the corner?"

Joshua, looked over at Sally peering into yet another cabinet, and standing he walked over to her and closed the door. "Sally, I told you you would find yourself in the corner if you didn't behave quietly."

He steered her to the nearest corner and said, "We are almost finished, stay here until I tell you to come out."

"I don't want to stand in the corner!"

"You should have thought of that before you decided to disobey me."

Sally stood in the corner, but as the meeting resumed, she began to kick the wall.

Joshua stood, and walking over to her whispered in her ear, "If you do not stand there quietly and let us finish our meeting in peace, you and I will be looking for the nearest storage shed." He landed one mighty swat on her backside and went back to the table.

"My apologies," he told the surveyor who had a surprised look on his face. Joshua gave a glance to the corner and saw that Sally had settled down and breathed a sigh of relief. It was going to be another long day, but he was determined to keep his promise to Adam.

Hoss had made a point of working around the ranch until lunch. He headed inside around noon to find Lizzie sitting at the dining room table working at polishing the silver.

"Hey, Lizzie. When's lunch?" He leaned over to try and glance through the kitchen door.

"Hop Sing said he was going to bring it out in a minute." Lizzie said sadly.

"Well, let's move some of this silverware out of the way so we'll have room to eat." Hoss began moving piling the silverware up in a heap.

"Wait, Uncle Hoss, some of that's polished," she sighed an exasperated sigh and carefully made two piles.

Hop Sing brought out their lunch soon afterward and they began eating in silence.

"So, your papa's bein' pretty tough on you, huh?" Hoss said between bites.

"He's just being mean and unfair," Lizzie took an angry bite.

"Yeah, pas can be that way," Hoss growled in a low tone. "I remember your grandpa used to be that way…mean and unfair." Hoss shook his head and looked at Lizzie through hooded eyes.

Lizzie stopped with a bite half way to her mouth and looked up at him.

"I remember your grandpa had two sorts of mean and unfair: in general and in particular," Hoss spoke low like he was telling a secret and made his eyes into slits. "So, your papa, is he being mean and unfair in general or in particular?" Hoss put his elbow on the table and leaned in towards her.

Lizzie put her fork down and asked, "What's the difference?"

"Well mean and unfair in general means you can't do nothing to please them. You behave perfectly and they still ain't happy. Then mean and unfair in particular is when there's one thing in particular that they keep bringing up. They're like a dog with a bone, just can't let it go. So, what do you think? Mean in general or in particular?"

"In particular I guess…"

"So, what bone exactly is he chewing on, in particular?"

"The stupid list!"

"Yeah, I figured," Hoss said, nodding.

"He says I can't go outside until everything's done."

"But you're showin' him, ain't ya? You'll show him he can't be mean and unfair to you. You ain't gonna finish that list, are you?" Hoss hit the table with his fist.

"He said he wants it done by tonight and I only have a few more chores to do."

"So why are you giving in?"

"'Cause I want to go outside." Lizzie said emphatically. "Papa said that he wants me off restriction and I want to be off restriction too."

"He wants you _off_ restriction? Somehow, that don't seem to square up with bein' mean and unfair. Hmmm…" Hoss paused and seemed to ponder what he had said. "Well, I gotta get back to work and you have that list to finish," Hoss pointed at the list and then headed out the door.

Lizzie slid over to the pile of silverware and picked up a fork thoughtfully.

As the afternoon hours dragged on, Lizzie saw that her list was almost finished. She looked up from folding the laundry that Hop Sing had given her, to see her Uncle Joe come in to the house.

"Hey, Lizzie, looks like you've put in a hard day's work. Has your grandpa come home yet? I didn't see the buggy."

"No, nobody is home but me and Hop Sing."

"Well, if you see him before I do, will you tell him I'm looking for him? I'll be out in the barn."

"Can I come out with you? I can help with the chores," Lizzie asked hopefully.

"Sorry little lady," Joe smiled. "I don't want us to get in trouble with your papa. Any outside chores that you need to do will have to be done with him."

"But, why, Uncle Joe? I don't want to spend time with him when he is being so mean to me."

"Lizzie," Joe said taking a seat next to her and picking up a towel to fold. "I think you know your papa isn't making you stay inside to be mean. He is making you stay inside so that you'll learn a lesson. Your grandpa used to do the same thing to me. He'd make me stay inside, usually when I had run off somewhere I'd been told not to go. Is your papa mean to you when you're doing chores with him?"

"Well…"

"Lizzie…"

"No, I guess not."

"You did something dangerous and your papa wants to make sure that he can trust you not to do it again. So, all the time in the house is meant to make you remember to obey him so that you don't end up restricted to the house again."

"I won't do it again, Uncle Joe. I hate being stuck in the house."

"I suspect that if you tell him that and have the list done when he gets home, the restriction will be over. I know your papa pretty well and if you keep fighting him on this, he'll get stubborn and make it last a lot longer than you'd like it to last."

"He did say he wanted me off restriction…"

Well, there you go. He's hoping you've learned your lesson and you just need to convince him that you have; that you accept that what you did was wrong and you deserved to be punished. That's the hardest part, you know, accepting that you deserved to be punished." Joe raised his eyebrows. "I remember once your grandpa sent me up to clean my room when I had gotten a little disrespectful with him. I went to my room, but I downright refused to clean it. He told me that until it was clean, I had to stay in my room except for meals. I waited him out for a week. I was stubborn, but he was more stubborn. I finally gave in and cleaned it. When he saw that I had finally given in, he said, "Joe, I didn't want you to have to stay in your room for a week, but you chose when the punishment was over. A punishment that should have been over in a few hours lasted a week because of your willful refusal to accept correction. He was right, Lizzie, and I never made that mistake again. Your grandpa always told me that he punished me because he cared about the man I was becoming. Your papa, loves you and cares about the woman you are becoming, try to not be stubborn anymore about accepting correction." Joe stood and kissed her on the top of the head and went out the door.


	22. The Talk

Adam walked into the house at the end of the day and saw his father sitting in the chair near the fireplace, their eyes met and Ben gestured with his chin to Lizzie who was sitting amongst piles of books near the desk.

"Pa," Adam acknowledged his father as he hung his hat on the hook and took off his gun belt. Adam walked over to where Lizzie was sitting on the floor and leaned on the desk watching her unload the shelves.

"Your grandpa sure does have a lot of books, doesn't he?"

"Yes, but I almost have them all out so that I can dust the shelves."

"How about you dust and I'll shelve?"

"Really?" Lizzie looked up at Adam skeptically.

"Yes, this is the last task on your list isn't it? We'll finish it together and then go outside to work on our chores, is that all right?"

"Thanks, Papa," Lizzie said gratefully.

"You're welcome," Adam said and smiled. Adam glanced over his shoulder at his father with raised eyebrows and received an answering smile. Adam was pleasantly surprised at the good attitude, he had thought this morning that he was going to be dealing with a pouting child for the near future and to have the non-pouting Lizzie back so soon was heartening.

With the two of them working together, they quickly had the shelves dusted and filled.

"So, is the list done?" Adam sighed dramatically and then smiled. "Finally?"

"Yes, Papa, see?" Lizzie handed the list to him so that he could scan through it and saw a line was drawn through each thing except the bookshelves. He pulled a pen from the middle drawer of the desk and handed it to Lizzie.

"Well, how about you scratch off the last thing and then we can be done with it?"

"I'm gonna put it in the fire," Lizzie said emphatically as she drew a line though the last thing on the list.

"I think that is a fine place for it," Adam nodded.

Adam followed Lizzie to the fireplace and together they watched the list burn to ashes.

Adam put his arm around Lizzie shoulders and said, "You might not believe it, Lizzie, but I am as glad to see that list burn as you are." Adam patted her shoulder and said, "Come on, let's get outside and finish up the evening's chores."

Ben caught Adam's eye and nodded, giving him a proud look. Adam returned the nod and guided Lizzie outside.

Lizzie and Adam started watering the animals with Lizzie filling big buckets with water and Adam carrying them to the animal troughs. Adam then climbed up to the hayloft in the barn and threw the hay down to a waiting Lizzie. He purposely missed a couple of times, so by the time all the hay was down, Lizzie was covered in hay strands and laughing.

"You did that on purpose," she accused him with a smile as she brushed the hay out of her hair and off her clothes.

"Certainly not, the wind must have caught it," Adam winked at her. The rest of the chores went smoothly and they finished in record time.

"So, list is done, chores are done and you seem to be back in good spirits. Are you ready to have that talk with me?" Adam said seriously.

Lizzie felt butterflies in her stomach as she nodded.

"Good, I asked Hop Sing this morning to make us a picnic basket for supper. I thought we could go and sit down by the pond while we talk. Does that sound like something you'd like to do?"

Despite the butterflies, Lizzie nodded.

"All right, you go get a blanket from the barn for us and I'll go in and get our supper."

Lizzie walked into the barn and saw her Uncle Joe working on a horseshoe.

"Uncle Joe, Papa sent me to get a blanket. We're going to sit by the pond and talk." Lizzie looked up at him apprehensively.

Joe smiled at her as he put down the horseshoe and got a relatively clean blanket down for her.

"Nervous?"

"Yes, I wanted to talk to him last night, but now that we are going to finally talk, I don't really want to."

"I know that feeling. I used to feel that way with your grandpa. I promise you'll feel better once you start. Remember you both want the same thing: for this all to be over. Just be honest and respectful and it will be fine. Your papa loves you."

"I know, Uncle Joe. I just think he might still be angry with me."

"He might be, but the only way past this is through it." Joe reached out to tousle her hair and gave her an encouraging smile.

Lizzie nodded and turned to leave the barn carrying the blanket.

Adam had walked into the kitchen and came through the great room on his way back outside.

"Lizzie and I won't be at supper tonight, Pa. We'll be having supper al fresco while we talk."

"Greasing the wheels a little, are you Adam?"

"I hope so, three days is an awfully long time for her to be inside. I'm hoping this will be a bit of an olive branch when we get down to discussing her behavior and why this is not going to happen again."

"I'm glad that you're trying to do something to ease the sting of the scolding that she has coming, but I think that after three days of being inside, she's going to be equally determined that this won't happen again."

Adam smiled slightly and said, "I think you are probably right about that, Pa. I'm just glad that she has gotten rid of that petulant attitude she was sporting yesterday and the defiant one she had this morning."

"She's had time to think things through and she's a very intelligent girl. She knows that she has a stubborn man, excuse me, determined man for a father," Ben looked up at Adam with a twinkle in his eye and smiled, "who isn't going to budge an inch when he sets his mind to something. It just took her a little while to remember that," Ben gave Adam an encouraging smile. "Good luck, son"

"Thanks, Pa," Adam carried the basket outside and together, he and Lizzie walked down to the pond.

When they reached the pond Adam helped Lizzie spread out the blanket and they both sat down, looking at each other apprehensively.

"So, do you want to eat first or talk first?" Adam asked in a matter of fact tone.

"Talk," Lizzie said firmly, trying to sound brave.

"Good, me too," Adam said. "Let's start with me."

Lizzie looked up at him surprised.

"I am sorry that I scolded you that first day and I should never have left you alone as much as I did over the last few days."

Lizzie stared at him, not understanding.

"When you are in trouble with me we need to be together so that we can work through it. I left you alone too much and I'm sorry. That won't happen again."

"It won't?" Lizzie asked

"I promise you, it won't. Will you forgive me?"

"Of course, Papa, and I already forgave you for scolding me about being outside." Lizzie said with a quizzical look on her face.

"Thank you, Lizzie," Adam paused and took a deep breath. "Now, about me being unfair. I try to always be fair with you, especially when you've misbehaved, so I want to know why you think you've been shown unfair treatment." Adam sat back and waited.

Lizzie blushed and remained quiet.

"It's all right, Lizzie," Adam said in a soothing voice. "I want you to speak your mind. You can say anything you want to me. This talk is about setting things right and we can't set things right if we aren't honest with one another. So, tell me the truth, how was I unfair?"

"You made me stay inside for three days," Lizzie said quietly and tentatively.

"I did. How was that unfair?" Adam said gently.

"Sally got to spend the whole day with Uncle Hoss…" Lizzie said not meeting Adam's eyes.

"Um hmm," Adam said nodding.

"She's a lot naughtier than I am, Papa," Lizzie blurted out.

"You're probably right about that," Adam said, nodding again.

"Well, then how come she gets to go out and be with Uncle Hoss and I have to stay inside doing chores?" Lizzie said angrily and crossed her arms.

"Because I'm not her father," Adam said simply.

"That doesn't make any sense," Lizzie huffed.

"Lizzie, the way that I expect you to behave hasn't changed," Adam said keeping his voice quiet as he shook his head. "The same things that were expected of you before Sally came are the same things that are expected of you now. You decided that you were going to the river, which was not only dangerous, but a good deal farther than you are allowed to go without telling someone. That's why you've been inside for the last three days. The fact that Sally may be more naughty than you doesn't change the fact that you disobeyed me. You were punished that same way that you would have been had Sally never come to the Ponderosa. You knew that there would be consequences for breaking the rules. You never thought I would go easier on you because Sally's grandpa is not tough on her, deep down, I think you know that."

Lizzie stood up and turned her back to her father. "I want to go back home." She declared.

"Hmm mmm, we're not going home until we have all of this resolved," Adam said softly. "But we can take a break and have some supper. Let's see what Hop Sing packed."

Adam opened the basket and began to pull out the napkins and silverware and placed them on the blanket. He pulled out a container of ham and another of chicken.

When Lizzie still didn't turn around, Adam said, 'Lizzie, honey, I don't like it when we're not getting along. I don't like it when you are being punished anymore than you do, but I am not going to let you get away with poor behavior just because Sally or anybody else does. You're too important to me for that. I want so much for you. I want you to go on and do great things with your life and I am not going to let you get away with doing risky, dangerous things. I want us to get past this disobedience but I can't do that without you. Will you try for me, please?" Adam looked hopefully at Lizzie's back and sighed. "I love you, Liz." It came out as a plea.

The words had barely left Adam's lips when he had arms full of Lizzie and hands full of chicken and ham. He was nearly bowled over backwards when Lizzie launched herself at him and he just hung on.

"I love you too, Papa and I don't like it when we aren't getting along either," Lizzie whispered into his neck.

Adam breathed a sigh of relief and held on to her a little longer, before putting the tins down and settling Lizzie in his lap.

"So, now that we have talked about my mistakes, let's talk about yours," Adam said gently wrapping his arms around her. He felt her tense a little at those words, but plunged ahead, just wanting this conversation to come to a conclusion.

"You were doing really well, the first day, but things didn't go so well the second day, why?" Adam resisted using words like defiant and stubborn, although he was thinking them.

Lizzie shrugged.

"Lizzie," Adam put a more commanding tone in his voice. "A shrug is not an answer and you do know what happened. You might not want to say it, but you do know what happened on that second day. Tell me."

Adam waited for an answer, stayed silent and blocked Lizzie's every attempt to get up. Eventually Lizzie stopped struggling and sighed.

"'Cause the whole family was outside and The Brown's were outside and I was inside and then Sally got to go with Uncle Hoss even though she was in trouble. I'm a good girl and I get punished," Lizzie ended with a whine.

"You are a good girl, but you did a naughty thing…"

"Sally did too," Lizzie interrupted.

"One thing has nothing to do with the other. Maybe Sally shouldn't have been allowed to go with your Uncle Hoss, but just because she did does not excuse you. You deserved what you got."

"That's what Uncle Joe said too," Lizzie whispered.

"What?"

"That's what Uncle Joe said," Lizzie said a little louder.

"He said I deserved what I got, but if I had accepted the punishment, it would have been over sooner," Lizzie said shamefacedly.

"Well, he's right about that," Adam gave Lizzie a squeeze. "I didn't want to keep you in for three days, but you took that out of my hands when you refused to finish the list."

"Really?" Lizzie turned to look Adam in the face to see if he was telling the truth.

"Yes, really," Adam said in an exasperated voice. "If you had buckled down and gotten that list done, I would have let you be outside today, but you got nothing accomplished on day two because you were too busy being upset and stubborn." Adam brought his forehead to hers as she blushed.

"Uncle Joe said that too," Lizzie admitted.

"Well, what else did your Uncle Joe say?"

"That you punish me because you care about me and that I shouldn't be stubborn about punishment because you're more stubborn than me."

Adam laughed, "Well, do you think he's right?"

"You are more stubborn than me," Lizzie looked up and smiled.

Adam smirked, "I'll give you that, but what about the other things he said? I do care about you Liz and I do want what's best for you. I don't want to ride herd on you all the time, I want to trust you to mind me, but you have to prove that you're trustworthy."

Lizzie turned back around and leaned against Adam's chest.

"You can trust me, Papa. I don't want to be stuck inside for that long ever again. I promise I won't break either of those rules again."

"I'm glad to hear it, but I'm going to be checking up on you to be sure before I trust you fully again." Adam tightened his hold on her again before he said, "Now there is just one other thing we need to discuss…your temper."

Lizzie tried to squirm away again, but he wouldn't let her leave his lap.

"You have every right to be angry with me and about being punished. You also have a perfect right to tell me that you are angry; actually, I want you to tell me when you're angry. I've told you before that the silent, polite treatment is no way to behave and the screaming fury that you were in last night is also not acceptable. Do you know why that is?"

Lizzie took a long time before finally saying in such a quiet voice that Adam wasn't sure at first that he had heard her, "It's disrespectful."

"In spades, Elizabeth," Adam said in a gruff tone.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"I'm glad that you're sorry, but that isn't going to be quite enough this time," he continued sternly.

Tears started down Lizzie's cheeks and she sobbed out, "Are you going to punish me some more?"

"No, you were sent to bed without supper last night for your disrespect. I'm not going to punish you some more, but I am going to require something from you: a plan."

"A plan?" Lizzie sniffed.

"Yes, a plan. I want you to think about how you're going to avoid letting your temper get out of control like it did last night. This is not a punishment. I am hoping that it will help you avoid punishment. You can talk to anyone in the family about how they control their tempers, you can even talk to Hop Sing or the Browns and tomorrow after church I want you to tell me your plan. We'll talk about it and the next time you feel that anger bubbling up and starting to get out of control," Adam rubbed her chest. "I expect you to use the plan. It can be anything you want, but you had better be sure that it's going to work, because I won't be screamed at like you did last night. Do you understand what I'm asking for, Lizzie?"

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said softly.

Adam reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to her.

"Now, I've said everything I want to about the last three days and it is over and done with. Is there anything that you want to say to me? Anything else you think we should discuss? Now's the time, I don't want us going to bed another night with this unpleasantness between us. You can tell me anything." Adam kissed her head and rocked her from side to side.

"Just that I'm sorry for screaming at you and for disobeying you and…" Lizzie started crying again.

"It's over, your forgiven, and you get your freedom back tomorrow. We're going to put this in the past and move on. I love you and I always will."

Lizzie burst into relieved tears at those words, turned around in Adam's lap and put her arms around his neck.

"I love you too, Papa," she sobbed.

Adam rocked her for a few more minutes and then when she had calmed down, they had supper, went frogging, and mended fences.


	23. Starting to plan

Adam opened to door to the house and Lizzie skipped inside. He glanced around and saw Sally standing in the corner and Joshua sitting in the chair at the desk watching her. His father was over near the fire, legs crossed and reading.

"I'm going to take the basket into Hop Sing and see if the bath water is heating, Lizzie. It's getting late and you need to think about a bath and bed." Adam turned to walk to the kitchen and Lizzie walked over to her grandpa.

"Will you tuck me into bed tonight, Grandpa?"

"It would be my pleasure, Lizzie," he said as he pulled her into his lap. "Is everything all right between you and your papa?'

Lizzie nodded and rested her cheek against his chest, "Yes."

"I'm so glad," Ben kissed her head, wrapping his arms around her and patting her leg.

Adam came out of the kitchen with two buckets in his hands and Hop Sing was following him carrying two of his own. "All right, there is enough hot water for you, Lizzie and Joshua", Adam looked over to the desk and raised his eyebrows, "there's enough for Sally when she's ready for her bath."

"Ruth is upstairs, Adam, if you wouldn't mind taking it up to her. Sally will be up in a minute," Joshua glanced at Sally and said, "I hope," under his breath.

"Come on Liz," Adam motioned up the stairs with his head. "Let's get some of that pond water off of you."

Lizzie hopped down out of Ben's lap and led Adam and Hop Sing up the stairs.

Ben glanced up from staring at the fire when he heard Joshua say, "Sally, turn around."

Sally slowly turned around and crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him with a scowl.

"Do you know why you're in the corner?"

"Because you're mean," she said angrily.

Joshua sighed and turned her back into the corner, "I guess you need to think some more."

He looked up at Ben and only got a shrug in return. Joshua slumped back into the chair and fought down the urge to turn Sally over his knee for the third time in the last thirty minutes.

"Why are you being so stubborn?" he asked after a few minutes. "I can do this all night. You are going to stand in that corner until you come up with an acceptable answer."

Adam came down the stairs to the landing and watched the interaction. He saw Sally glance over her shoulder at her grandpa and then shift her eyes to him.

"Put your nose back in that corner, Sally," Joshua commanded and landed a swat on her backside.

Sally turned back around quickly, but not before she saw Adam raise his eyebrow at her. He then walked down the second set of stairs and sat in the chair near the fire.

"I'm sorry, Grandpa," Sally said.

"For what?" Joshua said tiredly putting his face in his hands. "Ahh, keep your nose in that corner." He chided as she started to turn.

"I should have eaten my dinner when you told me to, even though I hate peas!" Sally whined. "Can I come out of the corner now?" She whined some more.

Joshua sighed in resignation. "Go take your bath."

Sally was out of the corner in a flash. She ran past him and up the stairs. Joshua pulled himself out of the desk chair, walked across the room to the couch and he threw himself down on to it.

"This is proving to be considerably more challenging than I thought it would be," he said tiredly. "I don't know how you all do it."

"Well, Joshua, we are considerably farther down the road with Lizzie than you are with Sally," Ben said in a reassuring voice.

"Plus, Lizzie knows that she won't get away with things, so she doesn't even try them. Sally is just learning that you won't give in to her. She's still testing you. If you stand firm now and don't give in, she'll be easier to handle in the future," Adam said nodding. "I think it's going to be rough for a while, though, you're fighting eight years of her getting her own way."

"I surely do wish I could erase those eight years and start over," Joshua sighed again.

"Oh, you've always liked a challenge, Joshua, just look at it as the ultimate challenge. You've built businesses, tamed horses, and fought in the military. This is just another challenge in a lifetime of challenges."

"I was a much younger man, then, Ben. Raising Sally is a job for a much younger man."

"You're what she's got, Joshua," Adam said softly.

"You're right and I am going to do my best for her. I do love her. I just wish she was giving me an easier time of it," he rolled his eyes and slumped tiredly in his seat. "I'm exhausted."

The three of them laughed; then lapsed into silence as they sat quietly staring at the fire.

"So, Adam, Lizzie asked me to come and tuck her in tonight, any idea what that might be about?"

"Yes, Pa, actually I have a very good idea what that is about. Tonight when we talked, I told her that I wanted her to make a plan to deal with her temper. I have lost all patience with it. I told her that she should talk to you and her uncles and anyone else she wants to, but she had better have a plan by tomorrow after church. I am hoping that if she can catch herself getting out of control and have already decided what she is going to do to stop herself from getting completely out of control, we won't have a repeat of last night."

"I'm not sure what advice I can give her," Ben laughed. "I fight the same fight sometimes."

"Maybe we could all use a plan," Adam grinned.

"I probably should talk to Sally about a plan too," Joshua laughed.

"Well, thanks for the advanced warning. I'll do my best," Ben put his chin in his hand. "I'll have to give this some thought."

Ten minutes later, Lizzie appeared at the top of the stairs.

"I'm done with my bath, Papa," she called.

"All right, I'll be up in a minute to help you comb out the tangles," he scrubbed his hand over his face and stood up.

Adam climbed the stairs wearily; Joshua wasn't the only one who was exhausted. He came through the open door of Lizzie's room to see her trying to pull the comb through her still wet hair.

"Why is it so much harder to comb wet hair?' She asked in a frustrated voice.

"I don't know, but I'm happy to help. Here, give me the comb." Adam sat down on the bed and took the comb from her. "Stand up in front of me so I can get the back."

Lizzie stood between his legs and backed up a few steps..

Adam worked in silence for a while before Lizzie said; "Catching frogs was fun with you tonight."

"It was. I haven't been frogging in a month of Sundays."

Lizzie giggled. "How come it's a month of Sundays and not a month of Mondays?"

"Ugh, can you imagine a month of Mondays?" Adam reached out and tickled her.

Lizzie squirmed away laughing and Adam went back to combing her hair.

"Papa, may I ask you a question?"

"You may ask me anything," Adam replied, he braced himself for the question because when Lizzie used the word may, what followed was usually challenging in one way or another.

"I'm not trying to sass you; I'm just asking a question. All right?" Lizzie turned around to meet his eyes.

Adam stopped combing, put his hands in his lap and nodded reassuringly, "All right."

"Why do you want me to control my temper?" Lizzie said seriously.

Adam needed a moment to think about how best to answer that, so he turned her around and started combing her hair again.

"Well, Lizzie. I think when you aren't in control of your emotions, any emotions, not just anger, it can make you do things you shouldn't," Adam spoke slowly trying to formulate thoughts. He worked on a knot for a while before going on. "Anger can be a great motivator to do good things. If you are angry at the way people are being treated it might motivate you to try and change things. Your grandpa did that a while back when he realized that the new teacher was only teaching the white children. Do you remember me telling you about that?"

Lizzie said, "I remember, but was he in control of his temper when he talked to the town?"

"Yes, because he wanted them to listen to him and he wanted to convince the teacher of the wrongness of his actions. If he had gone in there yelling the town would have stopped listening. How do you feel when someone yells at you?"

"It makes me angry right back."

"And you're so busy being angry right back, you probably stop listening, huh?"

"Same thing happens to most people I think," Adam said. "When you go in yelling, people just stop listening, not to mention that you can hurt someone's feelings."

Lizzie turned around and put her arms around Adam's neck. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings last night, Papa."

"I know you didn't but no one likes to be screamed at, do they?" Adam said as he rubbed her back. "The Golden Rule is as good a reason as any to be in control of your temper. I just don't want you to do things you'll regret because you allowed your temper to control you. That's why I'm gong to be tough on you about this until you learn to control yourself. Now, turn back around and let me finish up your hair."

"Are you still angry at me, Papa?"

Adam reached out to guide Lizzie into bed, as he said, "No, I am not still angry at you. You apologized and I know that you are truly sorry and I know that you're going to work on coming up with a good plan to make sure something like last night doesn't happen again. You don't need to worry and fret. You and I will conquer this thing together, all right?" Adam leaned down to kiss her. "I'll send your grandpa up to say good night. Sleep well and remember I love you."

* * *

><p>"So, all ready for a good night's sleep?" Ben asked as he stepped into the room.<p>

"Grandpa?" Lizzie said as she carefully turned the sheet over the blanket. "I wanna ask you something."

"All right, slide over," Ben said as he slid in next to her and leaned back against the headboard. "What do you want to ask me?"

"Well, in our talk tonight, Papa said I need to learn to control my temper and that I should have a plan to control it before I get angry."

"That sounds wise," Ben said seriously and putting an arm over the pillow behind Lizzie's back.

"So, Papa says I have a Cartwright temper and I figured if I have one I must have got it from Papa, who got it from you," Lizzie looked up from under her eyelashes.

"You know I have a temper that I lose sometimes, Lizzie. I'm still learning to control my temper too, I'm a lot better than I used to be."

"So, since you only yell sometimes, how do you keep from yelling all the time?"

"You mean how do I keep from bellowing?" Ben laughed.

"I thought you said you didn't bellow," Lizzie teased.

"You are right. I don't bellow. I just sometimes speak very loudly." Ben touched Lizzie's nose softly.

"I think I had to figure out why I was getting angry," he said seriously. "Was I angry because I wasn't getting my way, or because I thought I was being treated poorly or because I was disappointed or because someone else was not being treated fairly. Then once I figured that out I had to ask myself was losing my temper getting me what I wanted. Usually the answer to that was no. I needed to learn how to be angry but not let it get the best of me."

"So, what did you do?"

"Well, mostly I just try to keep from saying anything I'll regret. If I can just not say anything for a little while, then usually I end up not yelling. I think you can ask yourself the same questions. Think about when you lost your temper last night, Lizzie."

Lizzie blushed and looked away.

"I'm not trying to embarrass you. I just think sometimes we need to look at things that aren't working for us and try to change them." Ben hugged her close.

"So, why were you angry last night?"

"'Cause Papa wouldn't talk to me about going outside," Lizzie said softly.

"So, you didn't get your way and that made you angry." Ben said gently.

Lizzie blushed and whispered. "I hadn't thought about it that way."

"What do you think would have happened if you hadn't let your temper go?"

Lizzie shrugged.

"Would you have ended up in bed without supper?"

"No," Lizzie said after a long pause, "but I thought Papa wasn't being fair."

"What do you think now?"

Before Lizzie had a chance to answer, they heard a scream from down the hall, "Sally!"

Ben jumped up and ran down the hall to Ruth and Sally's room followed closely by Lizzie. Adam and Joshua came up the stairs at about the same time and they all ran into the room to find Ruth leaning out of the window and trying to reach Sally who was trying to keep from sliding farther down the roof than she had already slid. Ben rushed in and pulled Ruth from the window and Adam, who had a longer reach than Ruth reached out and pulled Sally to safety.

"What are you doing out on the roof?" Adam demanded in a stern voice putting Sally into Ruth's outstretched arms.

"I was watching the stars," Sally said defiantly despite her heavy breathing.

"What? You were out of bed watching the stars from the roof? Have you any idea how dangerous that is?"

"I've done it lots of times," Sally mumbled.

"You mean you have been out on the roof before, when I thought you were in bed, you were out on the roof? You could have fallen and we wouldn't have known!" Ruth said in a rush of words. Before anyone else could react, Ruth gave Sally a crack on her backside.

"Mama," Sally cried. "No!"

"Oh, yes," Ruth said pulling Sally over to the bed and then up and over her lap. "You know better and if you don't know better then I am going to teach you better right now. You could have been hurt or killed." With those words Ruth began giving Sally a serious spanking. Lizzie's mouth popped open as she watched. The men glanced at each other in surprise and rapidly began clearing the room.

Adam put an arm around Lizzie and said, "Time for you to be in bed," as he guided her out of the room.

Ben walked out into the hallway behind them before turning and saying loudly so as to be heard over the smacking and crying, "Joshua, how about a game of chess?"

Joshua, who was still in shock, shook his head and followed Ben out into the hallway, closing the door behind him. Ben reached out and putting an arm around his shoulders walked him down the stairs.

Adam walked Lizzie to her room and closing the door behind them, he held the covers up and Lizzie climbed in.

Adam winced as he heard the spanking continue. He reached out, smoothed Lizzie's hair and gave her a big kiss on the cheek. "Sleep tight."

As he turned to go, Lizzie asked. "Papa, why is Miss Brown spanking Sally?"

"You don't think she deserves it?"

"I guess, but Miss Brown seemed pretty mad. Was she in control of her temper?"

Adam puffed his cheeks and blew out a big puff of air before turning. "She was scared that Sally could have seriously hurt herself. I think that she was in control of her temper enough to give Sally what she had coming to her and be fair." Adam paused and sighed with relief that the spanking sounds had stopped. "Do you think that Miss Brown wasn't in control of her temper?"

"She just grabbed her and started spanking her without talking or anything. She seemed really mad. You wouldn't ever do that, would you?"

Adam came back and sat down on the bed, "Lizzie, if you ever put yourself in danger like that, I can't tell you what I'd do. I hope that I wouldn't. I would hope that I would always talk to you first, but in Sally's case, I don't think much discussion was required. She was out on that roof and could have fallen if Ruth hadn't seen her out there."

"You and Grandpa told me that sometimes you do things you regret when you let your temper get the best of you. Do you think Miss Brown in going to regret spanking Sally?"

"Honestly, I don't know, Lizzie. But there are a few of things I do know. First, Sally had that spanking coming. Second, it is a private matter between Sally and Miss Brown, so we, and especially you, Miss, will not bring it up. Third, it is time for you to close your eyes and go to sleep. Now, good night." Adam kissed her loudly on the forehead and stood up.

"Good night, Papa," Lizzie turned over, but didn't close her eyes right away. She listened to the door close and wondered if her papa was right about Miss Brown being in control of her temper. She just couldn't believe that Sally had been spanked by her mama.


	24. Advice about Anger

"Good morning," Adam said sipping his morning coffee. "You're up early. Are you all right this morning?" Adam looked up at Ruth over the back of the chair he was in.

"Pardon?" Ruth asked as she came down the stairs.

"Are you all right? You had a pretty rough night last night and since I didn't see you after you spanked Sally, I just wanted to be sure you're all right."

"Why wouldn't I be?" Ruth asked and tossed her head.

Adam raised his eyebrows and took another sip of his coffee; he had seen Lizzie do the same thing when she was trying to cover up her real feelings.

"Because you spanked your daughter for the first time. I've spanked Lizzie a few more times than you have Sally, and it always takes me a little bit of time to sort things out afterward. Despite the necessity, it's still a very unpleasant task," he said matter-of-factly.

Ruth sat down on the couch and picked up a pillow, hugging it to her chest. "Oh, Adam, I can't believe I actually spanked Sally. I told you only a few days ago I could never hurt my child that way and last night when she was out on that roof, all I could think about was what could have happened and before I knew it she was over my knee. I could hardly sleep last night and I woke so early this morning worrying about it."

"You were scared. I know how that is."

"You would never have spanked Lizzie that way and you know it." Ruth hit the pillow with her fist. "I was so ashamed, I just kept apologizing to her until she fell asleep and then I just couldn't come down here with all of you knowing what I had done."

"You apologized?" Adam inquired softly, keeping his eyes on the table before him. "For what?"

Ruth jumped up and started pacing in front of the fire.

"You don't understand!"

"You're right, I don't. Your eight-year-old daughter was out on the roof and admitted to having been out there multiple times. She was sliding down the roof when you saw her, and could very well have fallen and been hurt or killed. When we rescued her, she was flippant about the danger she was in and you, quite rightly, in my opinion, did something to insure that she thought twice about putting herself in danger like that again."

"I still shouldn't have done it!" Ruth cried.

"Why?"

"She's had a hard life!"

"You keep saying that, but I have yet to see the evidence. She's been raised in a privileged family with two people who care about and love her. From what I can see she has been given every material thing her heart could desire. She's your child to bring up as you see fit, that's why except for the spanking I gave her that first night, and the few times I have reined her in, I have stood back and let you and Joshua take the lead. But Ruth, getting angry with her for putting herself in danger and punishing her for it is hardly something to apologize for." Adam said in an exasperated tone.

"I don't want her to hate me!" Ruth crossed her arms and turned away.

Adam sighed and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Now, why would she hate you?"

"Because she never had a father because of my choices…" Ruth said in a teary voice and started pacing again.

"Things happen in life, Ruth," Adam said softly as his eyes followed her agitated walking. "You were a young girl. You made a bad decision. You can't make it up to her, not even by giving into her every whim and letting her do whatever she pleases. Recognize the mistake, learn from it, but don't let it define you or take over your life. Don't let it keep you from being the kind of mother Sally needs."

Ruth stopped pacing and stared at the fire for several moments before turning to look at him, with a slight smile on her face. "You're very good at this, you know." She wiped at her cheeks with the backs of her hands.

"What?" He asked returning the slight smile.

"Explaining things. You've made me see the error of my ways and you never even raised your voice. Lizzie is very lucky to have you. I can see why she is such a fine little girl," Ruth smiled an embarrassed smile. "Thank you, Adam."

"Well..."Adam glanced down at the floor and shifted in his chair.

"So, wise teacher, what do I do now?" Ruth flung herself down on the couch with outstretched arms.

"I don't understand."

"Well, you've made it clear I should have spanked Sally and I shouldn't have apologized for it. So, what do I do now?"

"Well," Adam shifted in his seat, took another sip of his coffee and crossed his legs. "Did you apologize for anything precisely?"

"What do you mean?"

"Tell me what happened after the spanking."

"Well once I stopped spanking her, I realized what I had done and I said, 'I'm sorry', then I helped her into bed and rubbed her back until she fell asleep and I just kept saying 'I'm sorry'."

"Well, since you didn't apologize for anything specifically, I think you can pull this out of the fire," he said slyly, wedging himself into the corner of the chair. "I think that you go upstairs right now and talk to her. You need to explain to her that you aren't sorry you spanked her; that she had it coming, but you are sorry about the way you spanked her. You're sorry that you just grabbed her and put her over your knee; you should have had your emotions in check and taken time to talk to her before the spanking," Adam glanced up to see how Ruth was accepting his suggestions and when he saw her nodding, he continued. "Explain to her that things are going to change and that you aren't going to let her get away with doing dangerous things. She's going to have to start minding you and not sass you anymore or throw temper tantrums. Most of all keep telling her that you love her and that's why things have to change." Adam hesitated a long time before saying quietly, "Take the blame."

"The blame?" Ruth said sharply.

"Yes, the blame," Adam met her eyes squarely. "Tell her it's your fault that you haven't been the mother that she needs and you are going to change that. You love her too much to allow her to continue to misbehave and that you're taking on the responsibility to be sure that doesn't happen anymore."

"I don't know how she's going to take that."

"Probably not too well, but it will get better," Adam laughed. "I promise."

Both Adam and Ruth glanced up when they heard someone on the stairs and saw Lizzie coming down with a smile on her face.

"Good morrow, my lady, how did you sleep this past eve?"

"Quite well, thank you for asking kind sir," Lizzie ran down the rest of the stairs and hugged Adam. "Good morning, Miss Brown." Lizzie said shyly.

"Good morning, Lizzie," Ruth said and averted her eyes for a moment before looking back at her.

Their eyes met for a minute before Lizzie smiled and looked back at her father. "Papa, is it all right if I go outside by myself? She asked hopefully.

"Yes, the restriction's over, but what's the rule?" Adam reached up and rubbed her back, leaning back so he could look her in the eyes.

"Stay within calling distance," Lizzie said dutifully before she hugged Adam again.

"Good girl, have fun." Adam nodded.

The adults watched as Lizzie ran out the door.

"You are raising such a sweet girl, Adam," Ruth complimented him.

"And you are raising a sweet girl too, I've seem glimpses of who Sally really is and I like her, you just need to encourage her to show that sweet side a little more often. She's smart and funny, some of the things that come out of her mouth are very clever." Adam smiled and his eyes lost focus as he thought back over the last couple of days.

"I'm a little nervous about having that talk with her this morning, but I guess it's time for me to do what I have to do."

"You'll be fine," Adam said reassuringly and watched Ruth rise from the couch to walk up the stairs.

Lizzie skipped outside and the world seemed fresh and new. Three days inside had given her a whole new appreciation for the freedom to be outside and not be watched over every single minute. She ran into the barn and found her Uncle Joe working on the stalls.

"Uncle Joe, do you notice anything special?" She asked gleefully.

"Well, did you grow a foot overnight?" He asked playfully, leaning against the rake.

"Nope," she giggled.

"I know," he said wagging his finger at her, "you got married last night, let me see your left hand." Dropping the rake and walking over quickly, he grabbed her hand made a show of looking for the ring. "Nope, no ring," He said seriously. "Hmmm, could it be that you are a free woman and allowed to be outside all by yourself?" He asked with a huge grin.

"Yep," Lizzie crowed and threw her arms around his waist.

"That's wonderful news, Lizzie!" Joe cheered. "So, the talk went well with your papa?"

"We talked about everything. You were right Uncle Joe, after we started talking it got easier. I'm off restriction, but he said I have to do something."

"What's that?" Joe asked in an encouraging voice.

"Make a plan to control my temper before I lose it," she said, keeping her arms around his waist and looking up at him.

"That sounds like a really good idea," Joe said looking down, nodding and smiling.

"Papa said I needed to make the plan and be ready to talk to him about it after church today. He said I could talk to anybody about it. So, will you help me?"

"Any way I can, honey. What would you like me to do?"

"Tell me how you control your temper." Lizzie commanded, sat down on a hay bale and looked at him expectantly.

"Well, let me think about that a minute and while I'm thinking, why don't you start giving the horses some hay for me." Joe stalled. He wasn't always the best at controlling his temper and he wished Adam would have given him a little bit of warning about "the plan".

Joe turned to pick up the rake and Lizzie started putting hay in the feed bins for the horses, all too soon for Joe, Lizzie was back and climbing on the side of the stall.

"So, are you done thinking, Uncle Joe?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, Lizzie, I'm not so sure I do control my temper very well." He kept raking and didn't look up. "I think I let my fists show my anger a lot more than I should." He glanced up at her. "When I'm with someone in the family and I start to lose my temper, they usually suggest that we need to leave and that stops me sometimes. If I'm by myself and I feel my hands start to make fists, if I can just unclench them, I find my temper unclenches too. My anger occurs in a flash and it I can just hold off acting until the flash dies, I don't do anything I regret later." Joe looked up from his work and said in a low voice, "Seriously, Lizzie this is something I need to work on as much as you do. Will you share your plan with me once you think of it?"

"Sure, Uncle Joe," Lizzie said as she hopped down from the stall.

"Sorry I wasn't more help."

"That's all right, Uncle Joe. Grandpa said he had a hard time controlling the Cartwright temper too. See you inside for breakfast." Lizzie called over her shoulder as she ran off towards the kitchen.

Hop Sing was pulling loaves of bread out of the pantry as Lizzie came in through the back door. He looked up as Lizzie came through the door and said, "Missy, you come butter this bread." He pointed emphatically at the slices as he cut them.

"Hop Sing, can I ask you a question?" Lizzie asked as she started buttering the slices.

"Yes, just keep working."

"How do you keep from losing your temper?"

Hop Sing looked up at her with a smile, "You velly funny girl. I lose temper all time."

"But not really, Hop Sing, you scold us in Chinese, but you haven't really lost your temper, have you?"

"Sometimes that is true, sometimes not. Either way, I do two things, first I scold you in Chinese, so you not know what I am saying and no feelings get hurt. Second, I leave room so that all angry words are said to empty room. Lashing out with angry words is not good thing, must always use words to make things better, not tear down or hurt. Dong ma?"

"Yes, I understand."

"Good, go find family tell them time to eat breakfast."

"Yes, Hop Sing," Lizzie said, as she slowly left the kitchen. She thought maybe she needed to talk to people outside of her family who didn't have a Cartwright temper. She had thought about talking to her Uncle Hoss, but she couldn't ever remember seeing him lose his temper or even get angry. She hoped she might be able to find someone at church who would give her some ideas. The plan was proving to be more difficult than she had originally thought it was going to be.


	25. Sunday Morning

Adam kept a wary eye on Sally as they rode into town for church. She had come to breakfast sullen and petulant and things had not improved as far as he could see. He hadn't been able to speak to Ruth about how her conversation with Sally had gone, but Adam had no doubt that Ruth had said some things to her that Sally had not liked. Adam could see that his father was just as aware that things could go wrong with Sally at any minute and although he didn't know why Sally was acting the way that she was, he too, had become more attentive to her and how she was acting. Ruth and Joshua also had their attention focused on the little girl who was too busy pouting to notice that she was the center of four adults' attention.

"Papa, is Sally in trouble? You keep looking at her," Lizzie said.

"No, honey, she just seems upset, I'm sorry I've been neglecting you. Here, why don't you take the reins and see if you can get Beauty to canter." Adam took one last glance as Sally before he put the reins into her hands and they rode ahead leaving the buggy behind.

After they arrived, Ben began introducing Joshua and Ruth to his many friends and Sally stomped into the church and sat at the end of a pew. Adam eased Lizzie out of the saddle and she ran off to find her friends. He mingled in the crowd greeting people and stopping to talk. When the church bell began ringing and people began filing into the church, Jim Mason and his family filed into the far side of the pew Sally was sitting in, but she didn't see them because her head was down and her arms were crossed.

"'Scuse me."

Sally heard a little voice, but didn't look up.

"Scuse me."

Sally continued to ignore the little voice.

"Be a gentleman, Will," Sally heard a voice coming from her left that she thought she recognized.

"She won't move," Will said loudly.

"I know, she's not being nice, but you still need to be a gentleman, walk around, son," the voice said again.

Sally heard a sigh and the little boy stomped off.

"Good man."

Sally glanced up to see the little boy walk over to Jim Mason and realized whose voice she'd been hearing. She started to say something when she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder.

"Move your feet," she heard a growled whisper from Ben.

"She's just stupid," Will said as his father picked him up.

"Unkind, impolite, naughty, maybe, but not stupid," said Lily Mason with a slight edge in her voice.

"Sorry, Ma," Will sighed again as his father deposited him between them on the pew.

Sally sat up and tucked her feet under the pew as her Grandpa and mother walked into the church. They took a seat next to her and the Cartwright family took the pew in front of her. Lizzie walked in behind them with Jenny Mason. Jenny went to sit with her family and Lizzie sat next to her father. She pulled out a hymnal and opened it in her lap to the first hymn. Her favorite part of any Sunday service was the singing. She liked singing with her father and they had spent many an evening singing as he played his guitar.

"Papa," Lizzie whispered. "Will you play your guitar tonight?"

"We haven't sung together in a while, have we? I'll get out my guitar tonight," he whispered back and then the services started.

After the church service finished, Ben stood and walked to the back to the church fully intending to tell Joshua of his granddaughter's latest exploit.

"Ben," Jim Mason called, stepping away from his family and moving towards Ben. "Ben, I suspect you're planning on telling Joshua about Will and Sally's set to in church."

"I am," said Ben in a deep voice.

"Will you let me handle it? I don't mean to interfere, but I'd really like to speak to Sally if I may."

"Well, it was your son who was treated poorly, so of course I'll let you handle it."

"Thanks," spotting Sally at the corner of the church, Jim made his way towards her.

"Morning, Sally, how are you enjoying yourself out at the Ponderosa?"

"Fine," she said moving away from him, "I have to find my family now,"

"Don't you want to talk to me?" Jim said following her. "Feeling guilty?" He asked her as she walked away.

"Are you mad at me?" Sally asked stopping, blushing and looking down.

"Mad? No…more disappointed. I didn't think my sweet friend would be so unkind."

"Friend?" Sally looked up at him with a questioning expression.

"Yes, aren't we friends?"

"I guess," she looked up at him hopefully. "I'm sorry about, about church." She waved her hands towards the door.

"I'm glad, why don't we go tell Will that?"

"What should I say?"

"Tell him that you're sorry that you blocked his way into the pew and that you upset him." Jim shook his head mentally that an eight year old hadn't been taught social graces, like apologizing. He reached out and put an arm around her shoulders. He walked her over to where his family was waiting for him.

"Sally, this is my wife, Lily Mason, and my son, Will. Will, this is Sally." He left his hand on her shoulder and gestured with his right hand.

The two children stared at each other for a few long seconds before Lily said, "Nice to meet you, Sally. Say hello, Will."

She put her arm around his shoulder.

"Hello," he said, crossing his arms and pushing out his lower lip.

"I'm sorry about the way I was in church. I shouldn't have blocked your way. I'm sorry you got upset." She looked at Will and then glanced away and then back to Will again.

Jim leaned down and whispered in Sally's ear.

"I mean, I'm sorry I made you upset. Will you forgive me?"

"I guess so."

"Will, either you do or you don't, there's no guessing so. I think Sally's really sorry and a gentleman doesn't hold grudges, so what do you say?" Jim said encouragingly. "Do you accept her apology?"

"Yes," Will said nodding and smiling.

"Well, done," Jim praised his son. "Sally, I see Jenny and Lizzie over there by the store, why don't you go see what they're doing?" He patted her shoulder before he dropped his arm and watched her run towards the other girls.

Jim met Lily's eyes and blew out a big breath of air. He shrugged and put his arm around her as the three of them walked back to the store. Lily smiled at him, put an arm around his waist and rested her head on his chest as they walked back to the store.

"Whatcha doin'? Sally asked as she ran up to the girls.

"Playin' tag. Wanna play?" Lizzie asked.

"Okay," Sally nodded. Soon they were all running and dodging and having a good, loud time.

Lizzie was playing for over a half an hour when the rocks that she had collected in her shoes really started to bother her. She ran over to the store and sat down on the bench next to Mr. Mason.

"Rock in your shoes, huh?" Jim Mason asked.

"Yes, Mr. Mason. These shoes aren't very good for running."

"I expect not," he said smiling.

Lizzie emptied the rocks out of each shoe in turn and after retying her shoes, she almost jumped up, when she paused.

"Mr. Mason?" She asked.

"Yes, Miss Cartwright?"

"May I ask you a personal question?"

"Of course, you can ask me anything."

"Do you ever lose your temper?" She asked watching his face.

"Can't say that I do. It's not really in my personality."

"You don't get angry even when your children do something wrong?"

"I do get angry, but that's not the same as losing your temper. Why do you ask?"

Lizzie blushed, before she said, "Well, Papa said I need to learn to control my Cartwright temper, he wants me to plan on how to control it before it gets out of control. He told me I could talk to anyone I wanted, but everybody I talked to in my family has a Cartwright temper or a Chinese temper and they said they don't always control it either. How am I supposed to control my temper if even the adults can't?"

Mr. Mason smiled, "I don't recall ever seeing your Uncle Hoss lose his temper and your papa seems pretty even tempered to me too for the most part," he laughed softly. "Have you spoken to them?"

"No, Grandpa, Uncle Joe and Hop Sing."

"Hmmm, well they are the ones that have the most trouble with their tempers I guess."

"I guess you can't help me either if you never lose your temper."

"Well, let's see what I can do. What did the people that you talked to tell you?"

"Grandpa said I needed to figure out why I was getting angry and then decide if I ever got my way when I lost my temper," Lizzie sighed at that.

"Not much help there, huh?"

"No, he also said that I should try not to say anything I'll regret, so I should wait to say anything when I'm angry."

"Well, that's pretty good advice, stay quiet until you can speak without yelling or saying mean things. How about your Uncle Joe?"

"He said that he tries to leave when he starts to get angry or wait before he acts. He also said that he gets into fights sometimes when he's angry so he tries to unclench his fists and that sometimes helps. He said he's not very good at controlling his temper and I'm supposed to tell him my plan so that he can use it too."

Mr. Mason laughed. "He wants to copy off your paper, huh?" He nudged her with his elbow.

Lizzie laughed.

"Sounds like he is saying the same thing that your Grandpa said, try not to say or do anything until you have yourself under control."

"Hop Sing?"

"Well, he said that he scolds in Chinese so that no one knows what he is saying and goes to another room so that he doesn't hurt anyone with his words."

"Hmmm, learn Chinese," Mr. Mason looked at her with crossed eyes and then laughed long and hard; Lizzie joined him. Every time he tried to talk, he would start laughing again.

When he finally started to get control of his laughter, he gasped out, "Maybe you'll be so busy learning Chinese you won't have time to get angry," he burst into laughter with Lizzie again.

When their laughter finally died down, Lizzie asked in a frustrated voice, "What am I going to do, Mr. Mason? Papa wants a plan by this afternoon."

"Your papa's pretty reasonable. As long as you've thought about it, I think he'll help you flesh out the plan. But it seems that all the people you have spoken to so far have given you the same advice."

"They have?"

"Yes, I think they have. You need to control your words and actions until the anger passes. May I ask you something personal?"

"Yes," Lizzie looked up at him and nodding.

"Your papa wouldn't be asking you to form a plan if this wasn't a problem for you, so can you remember that last few times you got angry?"

Lizzie blushed and looked down.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I was just thinking if you can think about when you got angry and how you felt maybe we can figure out something to help. You can trust me to keep your secret and be understanding. I may not lose my temper, but I have plenty of faults." He leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, "I don't always hang up my clothes when I take them off at night and I sometimes eat candy right before supper. Promise not to tell?"

"I promise," Lizzie laughed.

The both looked out at the street and watched the tag game for a few minutes.

"One time this week I got angry because Papa wouldn't let me go to town," she whispered, never taking her eyes off the game. "Another time he corrected me about my riding, but didn't say anything to Sally. Then, I got mad at him for scolding me when I hadn't done anything wrong," Lizzie sighed, "then a couple of days ago, Papa, made me stay inside because I disobeyed him, I screamed at him that time and that's when he said I needed to make a plan." She finished in an embarrassed voice.

"So, do you always scream when you get angry?" Mr. Mason asked softly, watching the game.

"No, sometimes I won't talk to Papa when I'm angry at him. Papa calls it the polite, silent treatment. Grandpa says that I'm punishing Papa when I do that."

"So, do you want to stop doing those things or are you just making the plan because your papa wants you to?"

"At first I was doing it because I had to, but then after I talked to Papa about why he wants me to control my temper, I decided I really do want to control my temper better. I don't want to hurt people's feelings or punish them. I just don't know what to do."

"I have something for you, stay here," Mr. Mason got up quickly and walked into the store. He came out in a few minutes with something in his hand.

"Seems to me, that you need to break yourself of a bad habit," he held out his hand and Lizzie saw a small stone attached to a chain. "This is an Apache tear," he said. "I want you to have it. When you hold it up to the light, you can see through it." He hung it around Lizzie's neck.

She picked it up off her chest and held it up to the light. "It's pretty! Thank you!" She let it fall to her chest, "How's it going to help me, though?"

"Well, I was thinking maybe if you wear it, it would help you remember not to lose your temper. So, those times this week, you could probably feel yourself getting angry, right?"

"Usually," she nodded.

"So, if you take the time to pull out the tear, it will give you time to do the things that your family suggested: not say anything, or do anything you'll regret later, or it will remind you to walk away until you aren't so angry. Hopefully, it will become a habit and it won't take you so long to get your anger under control."

"Do you think Papa will let me walk away like that?"

"I think he will if you explain to him why you're going to do it. That you aren't being rude, you are just trying to control your temper like he wants you to do. You talk to him about it, now, go play."

"Thanks, Mr. Mason," she reached over to hug him, "you don't think I'm a bad girl for losing my temper do you?"

"Bad girl? Naw, you just inherited the Cartwright temper and that is entirely not your fault. You're dealing with it and that makes me proud of you," he said as he hugged her back.

"Thanks," she called over her shoulder as she ran off to join the tag game.

After the game ended, Sally, Jenny and Lizzie were standing out behind the store, when Lizzie looked up the hill at an old house on the top.

"What's up there?"

"Oh, that's the old Bannister house, we aren't allowed to go up there, Pa says the floors are rotten and it's not safe," said Jenny.

"I'm going up there," Sally said with conviction. "I just want to look in the window."

"No, Sally. You're going to get yourself spanked," said Lizzie.

"Not if you don't tell," she said as she started to walk up the hill.

Jenny and Lizzie turned to walk around to the front of the store, when Lizzie stopped.

"You're going to be in trouble with your papa if you let her go, won't you?" Asked Jenny.

"Yeah," Lizzie said reluctantly.

"Me, too, Pa says I need to at least try to stop someone from doing something they shouldn't"

"If she gets caught, we can tell them we tried to stop her."

"You'd lie to your papa that way?"

"No…"

"Me either, I guess we really have to go try and stop her."

"How? She's a brat."

"I know, but I don't want to be in trouble with Pa because of her," Jenny complained.

Together they ran up the hill and caught up with Sally.

"You really shouldn't go in that house, you might get hurt," Lizzie said.

"Won't either, I just want to look in the window."

"Come on, Sally, let's go back to the square, our parents might be looking for us." Jenny looped her arm around Sally's and tried to stop her.

Sally struggled to get away and pushed Jenny down. Lizzie pushed Sally down and got on top of her.

"Get off," Sally yelled as she struggled.

"Not until you promise to come back to the square with us."

Sally kept struggling.

"What's going on here?" Adam asked as he reached down to pull Lizzie off Sally's chest.

As he helped Sally to her feet he asked "Are you girls fighting?" He frowned at the three girls.

"Jenny, Lizzie you know better than to brawl in the street. Tell me what's going on, now!" He commanded loudly.

Jenny looked at Lizzie and Sally and quickly realized that one of them was going to end up telling him what the fight was about eventually and she really didn't like Sally enough to get in trouble for her.

"We were trying to keep Sally from going up to the Bannister house, Mr. Cartwright. She said she wanted to look in the window and when we, Lizzie and I, tried to stop her, she pushed me down. Lizzie wasn't hurting her, she was just trying to stop her."

"All right, girls," he said looking Sally over for any injuries, "you shouldn't be fighting in the street like this, but at least you seem to be doing it to keep Sally out of trouble. Sally, that house is off limits," he said seriously, pointing up at the house. "It's dangerous and if you go up there, I will spank you. Now, go get some lunch."

"Thanks, Mr. Cartwright," Jenny called as she ran off.

"Thanks, Papa," Lizzie echoed as she ran after Jenny.

"I mean it young lady," Adam said to Sally as he saw her looking up at the house. "I do not want to spank you, but I will not hesitate if you don't mind me about that house. Now, go find your mama and grandpa."


	26. The Plan

**Thanks to Busygirl and Sierra Rose for your thoughts on where the story should go! Thanks to everyone for their reviews they mean a tremendous amount to me!**

Adam followed the girls down the hill and moved to where Carolyn was sitting in the shade. "Sorry, Sally was thinking about going up to the Bannister house."

"Doesn't she have someone looking after her?" Carolyn asked.

"Yes, right now, that's my family and me."

"Poor thing, it's a shame that her family doesn't watch over her like they should."

"Let's not talk about Sally right now, let's have some lunch and enjoy the afternoon."

"Papa, Papa, Papa," Lizzie called running across the square and sliding in next to Adam and Carolyn.

"Say, hello to Carolyn, Lizzie."

"Hi, Miss Carolyn, how are you today?"

"Very well, thank you Lizzie."

"Papa, the Masons said I could eat with them, is that all right?" Lizzie said turning to Adam.

"Of course, be sure to thank them."

"Thanks, Papa. Bye Miss Carolyn." Lizzie jumped up and ran off to join the Mason's.

For the next thirty minutes Adam just enjoyed being with Carolyn. He wasn't worried about Lizzie since she was with the Masons and Sally, he thought, was with her mother, so all of his focus was on Carolyn and enjoyably so.

"Adam, I can't find Sally."

"Hmm?" Adam said as he turned to find a frantic Ruth looking down at him.

"I can't find Sally." Ruth said urgently.

"I'm sure she's with Lizzie and Jenny."

"No, I asked them if they had seen her and they said no, that they had been playing marbles on the steps of the mercantile. They haven't seen her," Ruth said in a rush.

"Ruth, calm down, I'm sure we'll find her. Have you asked your father?"

"No, he and Ben went over to the lawyer's office to talk business. Please Adam," she begged.

"I'm sorry, Carolyn, I need to help Ruth find Sally," Adam said as he slowly got to his feet.

"It's fine, Adam go," Carolyn reassured him as she motioned him away with the back of her hand.

"Come on Ruth, let's check the Bannister house," Adam said as he strode away. "I told her not to go up there, but it wouldn't surprise me if she did it anyway." Adam heaved out a big sigh.

'Oh, Adam, what's the Bannister house?"

"It's the house up on the hill," Adam pointed, "the place should have been torn down years ago, the floors are rotting, the walls are barely supporting the roof anymore and I warned Sally to stay away. I also told her I would spank her if she went up there," Adam looked at Ruth's stricken face and kept walking. "Ruth, if she is up there, I'm going to follow through. Your daughter needs to learn to obey the adults around her. I would have thought that so soon after the spanking you gave her that she wouldn't put herself in danger again, but she's obstinate and willful. I'm not going to go easy on her like I did the last time."

"You went easy on her?" Ruth asked almost running to keep up.

"Yes, of course I did. She'd never been spanked before and she and I had just met. I didn't want her afraid of me. Well, we know each other now, and she decided to deliberately disregard my instructions; now she's going to see how big a mistake that really was," he growled. "I do not like to be disobeyed, especially when it's about something as dangerous as that house."

"Adam, you're scaring me," Ruth said with a teary voice.

"Good, Ruth. Maybe now you'll have some idea of why it is important to teach her to mind," Adam said in an exasperated voice.

"I do know that it's important!"

"How firmly did you spank her last night anyway? From what it sounded like it should have kept her out of trouble for more than 12 hours." Adam shook his head. "From your guilt I would have thought you'd spanked the daylights out of her."

"I don't know. I've never spanked anyone before!"

"Well, the spankings I give have a little more staying power and I expect you to back me up when we find her."

"Back you up?" Ruth gulped.

"Yes, Ruth, back me up," Adam said firmly. "If she's up in that house, I'm going to spank her when we get back to the Ponderosa. Between now and then you had better tell her she deserves what's coming. That you hope it teaches her to obey her elders; that you won't have her putting herself at risk. That you had hoped the spanking you gave her would teach her that lesson, but obviously it didn't. Put her in her room and make her stay there until I get home."

"Until you get home?"

"Yes, Ruth, I have my own daughter to attend to," Adam reminded himself that he was going to be talking to Lizzie about her temper and did his best to keep his anger and irritation in check. "She's my first responsibility. I'm not going to rush through an important talk I need to have with her so that I can deal with Sally," giving in slightly to his growing irritation with her questions, he turned and grasped her by the arms giving her a little shake. "You need to grow up!"

Adam turned and marched up the rest of the hill towards the house with Ruth trailing behind him.

"Stay here," he commanded firmly and walked towards the house.

"Sally, are you up here?" He didn't hear a response, but he heard muffled crying.

Walking up to the side of the porch he peered through a crack where the boards didn't fit together smoothly.

"Sally, are you in there? I can hear you, honey, are you all right?" He called gently.

"I fell through the boards," came the tearful response.

"All right, I'm coming for you. I'll get you out." Adam said in a reassuring voice.

Adam edged up the steps, keeping as close to the railing as he could and when he reached the top he saw where the porch had given way. Lying down flat on the porch, trying to distribute his weight as much as he could, he put his arms through the hole and called to her.

"Come over to me, Sally and I'll lift you out."

All he heard was more crying.

"Sally, I know you're scared, falling like you did," He listened to her cry for a moment. "Are you too hurt to crawl over to me?"

"No," Sally cried.

"Then why won't you come to me so we can get you out of that dark place?"

"You're going to spank me," Sally burst into tears.

Adam bit back the words that came immediately to his lips and instead he said, "I promised you I would if you came up here. But first we'll get you back to the Ponderosa. Your mama is out here and she's worried about you." Adam took a breath. "Sally, you can't stay under this porch. Now come here and let me help you," he commanded a little more forcefully.

He worked hard to keep his anger in check; the last thing he wanted to do was scare her more with angry words. The sooner he could coax her out the better.

"Promise me you won't spank me and I will."

"No, Sally, I warned you what would happen if you came up here. You know I keep my promises," Adam said firmly. "I know you're frightened about what's going to happen, but staying under the porch is not going to help you avoid the spanking you have coming. You knew what you were doing when you came up here. Let's just take one step at a time. First, we need to get you out and into your mama's arms. Come on, honey, do what I'm asking." Adam said coaxingly.

Finally, Sally crawled over to him and lifted up her arms. He lifted her out and sat her on his lap for a minute as the blood rushed out of his head.

"Good girl," he said. "Are you all right?"

Sally nodded.

"Sally?" Ruth called anxiously.

Adam stood and put Sally on his hip as he edged back down the porch steps. When he reached the ground, he set Sally on her feet and she ran to her mother.

"Oh, Sally, are you all right? I was so worried."

"I'm all right, Mama," Sally said and submitted to being turned and thoroughly looked over.

"Come on you two," Adam said. "It's time we packed up and headed home."

They walked back to the town square in silence with Sally and Ruth leading the way and Adam bringing up the rear. Most of the picnickers had gone home and Carolyn had packed the lunch back into the Cartwright basket.

"Thank goodness you found her!" Carolyn said. "Where was she?"

"At the Bannister house," Adam said grimly, casting a dark look at Sally.

"Well, I'm glad you're all right, Sally." Turning to Adam she said, "I packed your lunch basket."

"Thank you," Adam said putting his arms around her waist. "And thank you for being understanding. Will you come for dinner tonight?' Adam asked, looking into her eyes. Lizzie ran up to them and he slipped an arm around her shoulders. "Lizzie thinks that we should spend the evening singing. Would you be so kind as to join us?"

"It would be my pleasure," Carolyn said with a smile.

"Good, then we will see you this evening," Adam returned the smile. "Come on Lizzie, time for us to head home."

"All right, Papa," Lizzie said as she skipped ahead towards where Beauty was tied up.

Joshua and Ben were already at the buggy and Ruth and Sally were headed towards them.

"Remember what I said, Ruth," Adam called.

"I will, Adam," Ruth said ducking her head.

Adam sighed and turned to follow Lizzie.

"Hello, Mr. Hanson!"

"Well, hello there, Lizzie," answered, David Hanson, the town's schoolteacher. "How are you enjoying your summer?"

"Very much."

"Are you missing school?"

"Well, I miss seeing you and my friends, but I don't know that I really miss school. I'd probably miss it more if we met outside. Papa said in places like Tahiti the schools don't have walls." Lizzie turned to smile at Adam as he joined them, shaking David's hand.

"Well, that might be all right in the summer time, but it might get a little chilly when winter comes. Plus, I have enough trouble keeping you and your fellow students from staring out the windows. I would hate to think how hard it would be to keep you on task if there were no walls!" He laughed.

Lizzie laughed. "See you later, Mr. Hanson." She ran over to Beauty and began stroking her nose.

"See you later, Lizzie." David turned towards Adam.

"I hope my daughter doesn't let her attention wander too much. I send her to school to learn, not to stare out of the windows." He said gruffly.

"Oh, Adam, Lizzie is one of my best students and every child's mind wanders now and again. She always returns to the task at hand when I speak to her about it. Despite her dislike of being inside, she always does her best and applies herself. She does just fine."

"Thanks, David. I know that being inside is hard for her, but I do want her to focus her attention on her studies."

"And she does, believe me, she never gives me a moment of trouble. Don't worry. See you next Sunday." David slapped Adam on the back and waved at a couple of friends who were waiting for him.

"Next Sunday," Adam called as he walked to the hitching post. He lifted Lizzie up into the saddle and mounted up behind her.

"Ready to head back to the Ponderosa?'

"Ready," Lizzie said as she settled back into his chest.

"I thought we could talk as we ride," Adam said as he pulled the reins, wheeling Beauty around, and setting her to a nice steady pace.

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said softly.

They rode in silence until they were out of town, then Adam said, "It was good of you to try to keep Sally out of trouble today. I have a little quarrel with your methods, though. Sitting on her chest was probably not the best thing to do. You should have come and told her mama, grandpa or me what she was planning."

"I didn't want to be a tattletale," Lizzie said bowing her head.

"I don't want you to be a tattletale either, but when someone is going to do something dangerous, it's not tattling. You're supposed to look out for other people, like you did when you stopped her from going up to the house, but if your words didn't stop her, you should have come for help. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Papa."

"Tell me what I said," Adam encouraged.

"That if someone is doing something dangerous and I can't stop them with words, I should come get a grownup's help instead of sitting on their chest," Lizzie said matter of factly.

Adam smiled and held back a laugh. He was glad that Lizzie wasn't looking at him.

"Right!"

They rode on in silence for a little bit longer until Adam said, "So, you know what I want to talk about, right?"

"The plan…" Lizzie said in a quiet voice.

"Yes, the plan. You don't sound too enthusiastic."

"I tried to get a plan, I really did, Papa," Lizzie said emphatically.

"No plan, huh?"

"I talked to Grandpa, Uncle Joe, Hop Sing and Mr. Mason about it. They all told me that I should try not to do or say anything until I have my temper under control. Uncle Joe even said he tries to walk away when he's angry, but that doesn't always work. Everybody but Mr. Mason said they can't always control their tempers, how am I supposed to if they can't?"

"It's a habit, Lizzie, a bad habit, and one I think you can control."

"You do?"

"In the past week you've gotten angry four times by my count. The first time you ended up in the corner and after ten minutes or so, you had your anger under control. The next two times, you gave me the silent treatment and eventually got over it; the last time I sent you to your room and as angry as you were, you kept yourself from sassing me, even though I could see that you wanted to tell me plenty. All four times you got your anger under control. The last time especially showed me that you could control yourself if you had to. So, yes, I do think you can control it if you decide you want to. I think you've gotten some good advice and I think the suggestion that you not say or do anything until your temper is under control is a good one."

"Mr. Mason said he thought it was a bad habit too. He gave me this Apache tear, see?"

"It's pretty and that was very kind of him. How did he think it would help you?"

"He said that when I start to feel angry I should pull it out and use it to remind me to not let my temper get the best of me. He said that maybe the time it will take to find it and pull it out would give me the time to stop myself. But, Papa, can I tell you something for real?"

"Of course, Lizzie."

"Promise you won't get angry with me?" Lizzie twisted in the saddle to look up at Adam. He fought to urge to smile at the irony of her asking him not to get angry when they were discussing controlling her anger.

"I promise," he said, nodding.

Lizzie turned back around and leaned back into his chest saying, "when I was thinking about what everybody said, I thought that I'm supposed to take time to control my temper or walk away," Lizzie hesitated, "but you don't always give me time," she whispered.

"Sounds to me like you have a plan, but you're afraid you'll be in trouble with me if you tell me. You're not going to be in trouble," Adam reassured her. "I told you that your plan could be anything as long as it worked, so if even if that plan involves me, it's all right."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Well, both Grandpa and Mr. Mason wanted to hear about when I'd lost my temper and said that maybe some time away would help me not lose my temper, but I was thinking that you would get angry if I ran off," Lizzie said slowly, "but if I did run off maybe I would get my temper under control when I'm alone like Hop Sing does."

"Or it would just fester and get worse like it did the night you screamed at me. Grandpa told me that you were still pretty angry long after I had left."

"I know," Lizzie blushed.

"How about this, you don't run away, but instead you pull out the Apache tear and I know that you need some time to get your anger back under control. If I know you're trying then I'll wait until you're ready to talk to me again."

"You'd do that?"

"You bet, if it's going to help you tame that Cartwright temper of yours," Adam said with a chuckle and a hug. "I won't stand for you using it to stall me, but I will respect its legitimate use."

"What do you mean by legitimate?"

"That you only pull out that tear when you really are trying to control your temper. I _will_ know if you're just using it to stop an uncomfortable situation and I _will not_ be pleased."

They rode on quietly for a few more minutes, when Adam said, "So, tell me your plan just so we're both clear on it."

"I'm gonna pull out the tear when I start to feel my anger getting out of control and you'll let me try to control my temper."

"And there'll be no running away, no pouting, no polite, silent treatment and absolutely no using the tear to avoid talking to me. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Lizzie nodded her head.

"Good, I'm going to hold you to that. A lady's word is her bond."

Lizzie snuggled back into his arms and sighed a relieved sigh. She was glad that her papa was contented with her plan, but she was worried about how well it was going to work. She was going to work really hard not to have to use the plan.

They rode into the yard and Adam swung down out of the saddle, then he reached up and lifted her down.

"I'm going to rub down Beauty, Lizzie. I want you to go find Ruth and tell her I need to speak to her out in the barn, then go change your clothes."

Lizzie looked up worriedly at Adam, she didn't know if talks out in the barn meant the same thing between adults that they did between children and adults. Although her papa had told her that he would never take her out to the barn like that, it was still a scary thought.

Seeing Lizzie's hesitation, Adam said, "Go on Lizzie and do as I ask."

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said and ran towards the house.


	27. Stern Consequences

Adam led Beauty into the barn and after removing the saddle and blanket; he began brushing her in long, even strokes and began thinking about how best to deal with Sally. He and Lizzie had developed a routine of sorts, not just for when she had a spanking coming, but also for discipline of any sort. He had a good sense of what would and wouldn't work with her.

He had found that direct confrontations with her were generally very unsuccessful. He knew he could be very honest with her about her behavior and she listened to him much better when he wasn't yelling or demanding that she look at him. Stern "talking tos" were almost always accompanied by some sort of activity that kept their hands busy, the same with conversations that were uncomfortable for both of them. At a minimum, he avoided eye contact until he was reassuring her of his love for her. She was like a skittish horse that responded better to an oblique approach, that was why he had spoken to her about "the plan" with her firmly in front of him on the saddle instead of waiting until they got home.

When a spanking was coming he explained why he thought it was necessary and then encouraged her to tell him what she was thinking. He didn't want some unexpressed thought about anything to keep her brooding about the spanking instead of moving past it and accepting his forgiveness. Lizzie could get angry, but she was not usually defiant, and when she did get angry, he had realized that a little bit of isolation with him staying close and waiting the anger out usually led to her being fairly reasonable. He was glad that she had come up with the same plan to control her temper on her own. He smiled when he thought about her figuratively putting herself in the corner until she calmed down. He figured that it was going to take some practice on her part, but if she could master it by the time she was an adult, he would be thrilled.

Sally was a different story. While Lizzie had a temper that flashed suddenly, Sally was angry all the time. While Lizzie had a fairly easygoing nature, Sally wanted her way and her way only. She was not used to accepting no for an answer and when she was told no she routinely ignored it with no consequences. Adam knew that introducing her to consequences, especially one as stern as a spanking from him was going to be a tricky enterprise. He didn't feel that she had been spanked in a way that showed her the care and concern about her feelings that every child needs, especially when they find themselves in trouble.

His pa had indicated that Joshua had spanked her like he had been spanked as a child. Adam remembered the late night Sally had come downstairs and needed to be comforted, the fact that she was too worried to talk to Joshua about it told Adam that walking into the room and announcing what was coming and why was not going to work with Sally. Obviously Ruth's approach hadn't worked; in fact, it had seemed to have no effect at all. Adam thought about the spanking that he had given her and realized that he had spanked her because she had forced him into it, that the majority of his time that night had been spent trying to get her to mind without spanking her. He was going to need to take his time with this and tread very lightly.

"Adam?' Adam was drawn from his thoughts as Ruth entered the barn. "Lizzie said you wanted to see me." She said in a tremulous voice.

"You sound nervous, Ruth, is everything all right?"

"Yes, I've just heard about what talks in the barn can entail," she laughed nervously.

"Do you have a reason to worry about that?" He asked, hiding his smile behind Beauty as he continued to brush her.

"No, I suppose not…"

"You know, when I was a young boy, Pa used to bring me out here for a talk because of direct disobedience. That's the boat Sally finds herself in today. I think Pa took those times in stride, not placing too much importance on my misbehavior. But, as I got older, Pa usually brought me out here because I had failed to be responsible or hadn't met my obligations. Those times he was much more concerned that my irresponsibility not continue. Perhaps that's the boat that you find yourself in, Ruth, and why you're thinking about those kinds of trips to the barn." Adam kept brushing and didn't see as Ruth turned away from him with a blush.

"What are you implying, Adam?" Ruth said in a tremulous, overly loud voice.

"I'm not implying anything. You are a grown woman with responsibilities and either you'll meet them or you won't."

"And if I don't, I deserve…" Ruth took a breath and hesitated before saying in a forced voice, "I deserve to come out here to the barn with you?"

Adam laughed ruefully, "Hardly." Adam paused, "Ruth, spanking is a child's punishment meant to encourage a change of behavior or at least to serve as a deterrent. I seriously doubt a spanking would be able to motivate you if the love you have for your daughter is not enough."

"Are you questioning the love I have for my daughter?" Ruth asked indignantly.

Adam walked Beauty to her stall, closed the gate and leaned against it.

"No, Ruth, I am questioning the way you choose to show that love," Adam said quietly and gently. "Sally needs a mother. A mother who won't let her think that it is all right to ignore her own safety and do dangerous things. Who'll take action when she does, like you did last night, all the time, not just when you're scared into action. A mother who has standards that she demands be met. She needs a mother to whom she can run when she is feeling scared or lonely who will comfort her. It is beyond me how you can deny her what she is so clearly asking for: structure, boundaries, guidance and a whole lot of discipline tempered with love." He finished sternly.

"Adam…" Ruth started before bursting into tears. She turned to run out of the barn and ran smack into his chest. He put his arms around her and pulled her to him.

"I'm sorry to be so brutally honest, Ruth, but my words just haven't seemed to have any effect on you," he said softly as he stroked her hair. "I want you to understand that loving Sally doesn't mean giving into her every wish."

"Are you angry with me?" She sobbed.

"More frustrated I think. You keep agreeing with everything I say, but I just don't see you changing the way that you deal with Sally," Adam kept his arms around her as he plunged ahead. "You gave her the spanking that she had coming yesterday and then felt guilty. I don't know what you said to her this morning, but obviously it didn't have the effect that you wanted or she wouldn't have ignored my warning about going up to the Bannister house. Ruth, you have it in you to be the kind of mother Sally needs. I saw it last night and I saw it briefly this morning, but it was gone again by the time we were walking up to the Bannister house."

He stood silently with his arms around her until he heard the sobs starting to lessen, "Did you talk to her like I asked you to?'

"Yes," she said in a hitching voice.

"Well, that's a step in the right direction, what did you tell her?" He asked in a calm, reassuring tone.

"That things had changed. That she had better start minding or things were going to be very unhappy for her. That she deserved the spanking that you were going to give her for putting herself in danger. That from now on, she was going to get one warning and if she doesn't do as she is told she was going to be punished."

"Did you mean those words?"

"Yes!"

"How about now?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm about to go upstairs and spank your daughter, do you still feel the same way?"

"Adam, I've seen you with Lizzie and so I trust you with Sally, yes, I do feel the same way."

"Good, are you ready to be strong for her?"

"Yes, I want to be strong for her."

"Want to and will are different things, Ruth," Adam sighed.

"I will be strong for her," Ruth said emphatically.

"Then I'll go deal with Sally. I'll be treating her the same as I would Lizzie in the same situation and when it's over you'll have your chance to show you mean what you say. You'll get the chance to be loving and comforting while assuring her that she had coming everything I handed out. Are you ready to do that?"

"Yes," she said firmly with a nod of her head.

"Good," he held her at arms length, looking her in eye as if looking for the strength she had promised she had. "Good," he said again nodding.

Adam reached around and putting his hand on the small of her back, he walked with her back to the house. Joshua and Ben both looked up as they walked in the door. Adam looked into their eyes and saw that they supported what he was going to do.

"Ruth, you've been crying, are you all right?" Ben asked in a concerned voice.

"Let's just say that I can see now why trips out to the barn are things to be avoided," Ruth said with a bit of a laugh.

"Adam, you didn't," Ben said in a scolding tone.

"No, he didn't," Ruth said, blushing, "he just told me some very uncomfortable truths and he was right."

"Is Lizzie outside?" Adam asked, changing the subject.

"Yes, she changed her clothes and flew out the front door," Ben said.

"Good, I'd just as soon not have her witness to this," Adam took off his hat, hanging it on the rack by the door before heading upstairs.

Adam knocked at Sally's door and then went inside. At his knock, Sally had jumped up and put the bed between herself and the door. Adam took a seat at the desk and leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and folding his hands. He looked at her and met her eyes, holding her gaze until she looked away. He could tell she was scared, but by the way she looked at him, he could also tell that she was going to try and brazen it out. He needed to get past that attitude before he would even think of spanking her.

"I'm glad that you weren't hurt when you fell through the porch, Sally," he watched her move back a step. He sat quietly for a few moments trying to figure out where to start when he said, "You've had a pretty hard week haven't you? You've had five of the seven adults in this house angry with you and three of them have spanked you. That's a tough week by anyone's standard."

Adam got quiet again, trying to find the right words. "You're probably sorry you ever came to The Ponderosa, aren't you, honey? You come here and all the rules change, you have people spanking you and putting you in the corner and expecting you to behave in a different way than you have in the past. If I was in your shoes I'd be pretty angry." Adam eased out of the chair and onto the bed, stretching out his long legs, effectively blocking Sally in.

"Sally, are you angry about all the changes?" He asked gently.

She looked at him warily and then abruptly turned her back on him, edging as close to the wall as she could get.

"I'm sorry that you've been put through this," he said taking the opportunity to sweep her up into his lap as he sat down in the rocking chair. She was shaking with silent tears and she fought to get down. Adam let her struggle until the fight was all gone and she just gave into her weeping.

He rocked her for long minutes until he felt her start to relax and the tears began to dry up. "What are you thinking right now?'

"I want to go home."

"Why do you want to go home?"

Sally shrugged.

"It's all right to tell me, you won't be in trouble for anything you say."

"I hate it here. There's too many rules and I'm always in trouble," Sally cried.

"I know," Adam said sympathetically and nodding, "and the rules aren't going to change and the consequences for breaking those rules aren't going to change," Adam said. "Not even when you get home," he added quietly.

"I don't want so many rules," Sally whined.

"I used to tell my Pa the same thing, he said I might as well get used to it because the older I got the more rules there were going to be and not just his rules. I think I threatened to run away when he said that," Adam laughed.

"You did?' Sally smiled a sad smile.

"Yes, who wants to live by a bunch of rules?" Adam said as he patted her knee, "But I found that my life was a lot easier when I did my best to follow the rules. I got punished a lot less for one thing and lots of times when I acted the way my pa wanted me to, I got along better with people, they seemed to be nicer to me and wanted to be my friend."

Adam rocked her for a few more minutes before tightening his grip on her and saying, "I like you, Sally. I think you're a very smart, funny girl and I want you to be happy. I also care about what happens to you. When I tell you no, I have a reason and I expect you to mind me. I told you not to go up to that house today, and you disobeyed me, why?"

"I just wanted to look in the window," Sally whined and tried to squirm away.

"But Sally, I warned you I would spank you if you went up there, didn't you believe me? Or did you just think you could get away with it and not get caught?"

Sally squirmed again and tried to get down again, "Let me down!" She cried.

"No, we need to talk and I think it's best if we talk with you right here in my lap. Do you remember why I told you not to go up to that house?" He asked the top of her head.

Sally quit squirming, but she didn't answer.

"Sally, we're not going anywhere until you give me an answer," Adam prompted. "Why did I tell you not to go up to that house?"

"It's dangerous," she finally spat out.

"Yes, it was dangerous and I didn't want you to get hurt. Sal, one of the things my pa taught me really early on is that we're supposed to look out for each other and I was trying to look out for you by warning you about going up to that house. I take the responsibility to look out for you pretty seriously and I am going to spank you in a few minutes so you remember how serious I am about you keeping yourself out of danger."

"No, I won't disobey you again," Sally started struggling again. "Please no, Adam!"

"Sally, I keep my promises and you were given fair warning. I'm glad you're going to obey me in the future so I won't have to punish you again; we can just have a good time for the rest of the time you're here."

Sally burst into tears and Adam started rocking her again. Adam was unsure if the tears were manipulative or not, but he decided to ride them out, a few more minutes of rocking were not going to make a difference one way or the other and he knew she wouldn't be able to keep up the tears indefinitely. When the tears finally slowed, he carried her over to the desk chair and after taking a seat; he put her on her feet between his knees, leaving his hands on her hips. Knowing what was about to happen, Sally tried to twist out of his grip and when she couldn't she put her chin to her chest and started crying again.

"Sally, I care about you very much," Adam cupped his hand around her chin and lifting her bowed head. "I don't want to have to spank you, but you knew when you went up to that house that if I found out, we would end up here. I want you to remember that every spanking you are going to get from now on is completely avoidable; you just have to be obedient when you're warned." Adam ducked his head trying to meet her downcast eyes and asked encouragingly. "Is there anything you want to say to me?"

"No," she said softly sniffing back the tears.

"All right then," he said compassionately and nodded his head once.

Adam guided her around to the side of his knees. She put up a little resistance, but Adam could tell that it was mostly for show and she was resigned to the spanking. After pulling her over his lap, he pulled back her dress and petticoats and gripped them in his left hand. He pulled her body as close to his torso as possible before he brought his right hand down firmly on her backside. Sally bucked but didn't make a sound. Adam set to laying down swat after overlapping swat. Sally began sobbing after the first few swats and tried to reach around to block the next few. Adam's arm kept her hand from getting anywhere near her bottom and after five more firm swats, she dropped her hand and gave into her need to cry honest tears about what was happening. Adam landed two final spanks to the middle of her backside and stopped. He carefully turned her right side up and hoped that she wouldn't run from him like Lizzie did, but he wanted to let her decide, so he replaced her petticoats and skirt to their rightful position and pulled her up against his chest. Stepping back over to the rocking chair, he sat and started rocking. He kept his hold on her loose so if she wanted to get out of his lap she could. He stroked her hair and waited to see what she would do. As he rocked and soothed her, she did exactly what Lizzie always did; she fell asleep. Adam laid her gently on the bed and smoothed her hair back from her face and closing the door behind him, he went downstairs.


	28. Singing

Adam came downstairs to the watching eyes of Joshua, Ruth and Ben.

"She's asleep right now. I still need to talk to her, so if you could just let her be alone for a little while, I'll head back upstairs in a minute." Adam said looking at Ruth, who nodded and sat back down on the couch. Adam headed out the front door, crossed the yard and put his arms up on the corral where the Palomino was, leaning his weight against the rail and watching the horse running back and forth on the far side of the corral.

"Adam, are you all right, son?" Ben asked having followed him out of the house. He leaned against the rail next to him.

"Yeah, Pa. This is just a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be. I hate having to spank Lizzie, but she knows I love her and we can get past her being disobedient fairly easily. But with Sally, I just don't know. I'm not sure what to do next. She fell asleep crying in my arms and when she wakes up, who knows what's going to happen. She hasn't apologized and I'm not sure if I should go up there and take her through the paces of an apology or just let it be and hope that she starts to behave better."

"If this were Lizzie, what would you do?"

"I'd wait her out, but I know that she would eventually apologize because she doesn't like us being on the outs with each other any more than I do. I'm not sure Sally cares. She might just be angry."

"Did you talk to her before you spanked her?" Ben asked.

"Of course, I did, Pa. I told her that I cared about her and that I didn't want her to get hurt and that's why I told her not to go up to the Bannister house."

"Did she fight the correction?"

"No, she seemed almost resigned."

"Well, son, I think now's the time to make sure she knows you don't hold a grudge and that you want to forgive her, that all she needs to do is ask."

"I agree, I'm just not sure how to do that."

"You've got good instincts, Adam. You're a good parent, I'm sure that you'll do the best thing for Sally that you know how," Ben clapped him on the back. "Just don't keep her waiting for long, a child's emotions can get pretty tangled up if left to their own devices.

Ben turned and walked back to the house. Adam sat watching the palomino and thinking for another few minutes, nodded his head with conviction, and walked back to the house.

With a nod to Joshua and Ben, he stopped on the bottom step, turned to Ruth and said, "I'll be down in a minute, and then you can go see her." He continued up the stairs.

Adam let himself into the room without knocking and picked the still sleeping Sally up, putting her in his lap, he started rocking again; within a few minutes Sally woke up and tried to get down out of his lap.

"No, stay here a minute," Adam said tightening his hold on her. "I want to sit with you a little while."

"Why?" Sally said suspiciously.

"Because I want you to know that you're forgiven. You've been punished and it's over. I'm also very glad that you told me that you're going to obey me in the future, so that we don't have to go through this again." He kept his grip on her light, but didn't allow her to get out of his lap. "There's only one other thing that I hope will happen. I hope that you're going to want to apologize for disobeying me. That's something that's really important to learn: how to apologize when you've done something you shouldn't. I want you to really be sorry, though, not just sorry you got spanked." Adam stopped rocking and put Sally on her feet, turning her to face him. "You think about it all right? Now, you don't have to stay up here if you don't want to." Adam stood and stroked her head pushing her hair back and away from her face. "Do you want me to send your mama up?"

"Yes," Sally said turning away from him.

"All right," he said with a final pat to her head, he headed out the door closing it softly behind him.

Adam walked back down the stairs and Ruth stood with questioning eyes.

"She wants to see you," As Ruth walked past Adam, he reached out and placed a hand on her arm, "Please, Ruth, remember what we talked about in the barn; be strong for her." When Ruth nodded, he released her arm.

"I'm going to go see what Lizzie is up to," he announced heading out the door.

Seeing Hop Sing in the garden, he stopped and said, "Hop Sing, we'll be having an extra guest for dinner tonight: Carolyn Ramsey. She'll be riding in with Hoss."

After getting a nod from Hop Sing, Adam went looking for his little girl. He walked around the house and couldn't find her anywhere. He couldn't believe that she would have wandered off so soon after getting her freedom back, so he stood in the middle of the front yard and called, "Lizzie?"

"Up here, Papa," she called to him softly from the hayloft, then putting a finger to her lips she said, "Shh, Lady had her kittens. Come see!" Then Lizzie disappeared from the window.

Adam climbed up the ladder to where Lizzie was watching the mother and babies. "See? She had six of them!" Lizzie was on her knees about 10 feet from the cat. "Look how close Lady's letting me get!" She whispered excitedly.

"That's because she trusts you, hon," Adam said quietly as he eased down into the straw next to her. They watched as Lady nursed and groomed her babies for a long time, just staying quiet.

"Papa, do you think we'll be able to find a home for all of them?"

"I'm sure we will. I'll ask around, there are always people who need barn cats."

"Can I keep one of the kittens?"

"Nope!"

"Papa, please," Lizzie wheedled.

"Lady is our cat and we are a one cat home. I'm gonna give you the same answer every time you ask, just like I do every time there are kittens around, so let's keep it to one time only, all right?" Adam hoisted her over his shoulder and started down the ladder making sure her ride down was a bumpy as he could make it. He continued the jostling ride to the porch with her gripping onto the back of his shirt and giggling.

"Whew," he laughed, putting her on her feet on the porch. "Remember Carolyn is coming this evening for dinner and singing, so be sure you get all your chores done early enough that you'll have time to change, all right?"

"Do I hafta change? Miss Carolyn won't care if I'm dressed like this."

"You're right, she probably won't, but we dress for dinner when we have guests, don't we? If I have to wear this tie you'll be in a dress," he said as he flipped the end of his tie.

"You don't really have to wear the tie you know," Lizzie teased.

"Course I do," Adam said dramatically as he straightened his tie. "I'm nothing if not a gentleman and you princess, are a lady, who knows the proper attire for distinguished guests," he reached out to tickle her.

"All right, all right, I'm gonna go check the water for the animals," she laughed backing away from him. "Then I guess I gotta go change," she rolled her eyes dramatically and laughed as she ran off to the water pump.

* * *

><p>Carolyn and Hoss arrived together, shortly after Lizzie came downstairs wearing a brown calico dress.<p>

Ben, Adam, Little Joe and Joshua stood when she came into the room.

"Carolyn, we are so pleased that you could come. I don't believe you've met our guests, Ruth and Joshua Brown." Ben stepped forward taking her hand.

"Ruth, its nice to see you again, Mr. Brown, it's a pleasure," Carolyn said politely.

"Call me Joshua, Carolyn, it's a pleasure to meet you as well."

"And where's your granddaughter, Sally? I don't see her." Carolyn asked looking around.

"She's upstairs right now, Carolyn, I'm sure she'll be down for dinner," Ruth said a little testily.

"Of course, hello Lizzie," Carolyn said kindly as she reached out to take Adam's outstretched hand. "Thank you so much for having me to dinner, Mr. Cartwright. Little Joe," she said nodding.

"You're always welcome, Carolyn," Ben replied as Hop Sing came out of the kitchen.

"Dinner ready! Come eat!" Hop Sing said bowing.

"Well," Ben laughed. "I guess we are expected at the table." Ben took Carolyn's arm to escort her to the table as Adam dropped back to put his arm around Lizzie's shoulders.

"I'll go get Sally," Ruth said quietly to Joshua.

Ben seated Carolyn to his left, while Adam did the same for Lizzie before taking his seat between the two of them. Ruth came downstairs with both of her hands on Sally's shoulders. She steered her to the seat the between her Joshua and herself, before taking her place next to Ben.

"Well, it's not often that we have some many lovely ladies gracing our table at one time," Ben said smilingly. "It will be so nice to have a few more female voices too, Lizzie has a lovely voice, but she and Adam don't have much chance of being heard when they're competing with the rest of the family." He laughed.

"How about you, Sally, do you like to sing?" Adam asked.

"It's all right," Sally said, never taking her eyes from her plate.

"Oh, Sally, you have a very pretty voice," Ruth said encouragingly.

"I guess so," Sally replied.

"How about you, Carolyn, do you enjoy singing?" Ben asked.

"I don't sing very well, but I do enjoy it, so I'll be happy to have the males voices drowning me out a bit."

"You ain't heard us sing," Hoss said around a mouthful of food. "You might change your mind once you have."

"You don't have to sing if you don't want to, Uncle Hoss," Lizzie said sadly.

"Oh, no, it ain't that, honey, I think you had a fine idea that we all sing together. I think we all really like it, it's just we ain't exactly songbirds like you and your papa are."

"Ruth," Joe said as he passed her the potatoes. "Are you a good singer? Hoss is right, we like singing, we're just not too good at it."

"I do all right," Ruth said spooning potatoes on to her plate and keeping her eyes downcast.

Joe laughed, "That's the modesty of a true songbird if ever I heard one. That's Pa, Hoss and me against Lizzie, Ruth, Sally and Adam. Carolyn, I'm including you in with the good singers list. Joshua, I haven't heard from your quarter yet."

Joshua smiled, "Perhaps I should let your father access my singing ability."

"Put him on the good list, Little Joe. He sang many a sea shanty drunk and sober and never missed a note." Ben took a deep breath, "Remember that time…" Ben glanced around at the table suddenly remembering who was there and said, "Well, I for one am glad that Lizzie arranged this. It was a fine idea, fine!"

After they had finished dinner, Adam went to tune his guitar and Lizzie blowing the bangs out of her eyes went to work cleaning off the table. Carolyn stood and helped Lizzie begin clearing.

"Carolyn, you're a guest in our home. You don't have to do that, come out on the porch with us," Ben said as he ushered everyone towards the front door.

"I'll just help Lizzie and I'll be right out, I don't want one of the good singers being too late to the party," She turned and smiled at Lizzie.

"Thanks, Miss Carolyn," Lizzie smiled back.

"I hope we're good enough friends that you'll just call my Carolyn, Lizzie,"

"I'm not sure Papa would like that, Miss Carolyn," Lizzie said as she stacked the plates.

"Well, I'll tell him that I asked you to call me that, all right?"

"All right, Carolyn."

"Good, now let's get this table cleared," she said cheerily.

They finished clearing the table, just as Adam finished tuning his guitar. He followed them over to the door and opening it for them, he made a little bow and said, "Ladies."

"Why thank you, kind sir," Carolyn said. Lizzie just smiled at him.

Adam took a seat on one of the benches between Lizzie and Carolyn and the others took seats around them. Adam played all the favorites from Sweet Betsy from Pike to America to When I Saw Sweet Nellie Home.

Adam was getting near the end of his repertoire when Lizzie said, "Papa, let me strum."

"All right, what song do you want to strum?" He asked shifting the guitar to her lap, but keeping his fingers on the neck.

"Early One Morning!"

"How could we have forgotten Early One Morning?" Adam asked with a smile. "That's a good one for us to do together."

"And then we'll have some cake," Ben announced.

So Adam fingered the chords and Lizzie strummed and everyone sang.

"Not only do you have lovely voice, Lizzie, but you are also quite the musician," Ben praised.

"Absolutely," said Adam as everyone nodded.

"Now, will you do me a favor and run into the kitchen and tell Hop Sing we are ready for cake?"

"Yes, Grandpa," Lizzie jumped down from the bench as Adam took the guitar back into his lap. The adults began to visit amongst themselves

Adam watched Lizzie leave and when she was inside, he looked over at Ruth and asked quietly, so that only she could hear, "Where's Sally?"

"I tried to get her to stay downstairs, Adam, but I just couldn't get her to come sing with us."

"Well, I'll just run upstairs and make sure she's all right," Adam said as he stood leaning the guitar up against the bench.

Adam climbed the stairs and walked down the hallway to Sally's room, knocking, he opened the door and went in. Sally was lying on the bed with her back to the door.

"Sally, are you awake?"

"Yes," came the quiet reply.

"Why didn't you stay downstairs and sing with us?"

"I don't think I sing very well."

"That doesn't matter; it's just for fun. I don't like that you want to be up here all by yourself. Are you sure there isn't something else bothering you?" Adam sat down next to her on the bed. "Are you sure you aren't angry or upset? I would get that way sometimes when I had gotten in trouble with my pa."

"You aren't my pa," Sally whispered.

"No, but I care about you and I don't like you being up here all by yourself. Why don't you come down and have some cake with us?

"I don't want to," Sally said with a small tear in her voice.

"Why not, honey?" Adam reached out and rubbed her arm.

'Everybody knows," Sally flung her arms out from her body and then crossed them over her chest.

"Everybody knows what?" He asked softly.

"That I'm in trouble with you!" She whined.

"First of all, you are not in trouble with me anymore. It is over and done with. Second of all, just about everybody down there has been in your shoes at one time or another, so they are all going to be very sympathetic and understanding.'

"Really?" Sally asked, turning to look at him.

"Yes, my pa was spanked by his pa and he spanked me, Hoss and Joe and I've spanked Lizzie, so we all know how hard it is right after you've been punished. I'll tell you what, you come downstairs and have some cake with us and after you've had your slice if you still want to come back upstairs you can do that, all right?" Adam patted her hip. "Come on and have some cake." Adam reached out and taking her hand, he helped her up off the bed. He then moved his hand to her shoulders and pulled her up against his hip and walked with her down the stairs and out onto the porch.

"Look who decided to join us after all," he announced, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Well," said Ben. "I just cut a slice of cake that will be perfect for you, Sally."

"I saved a spot for you right here next to me and your mama," Hoss said, pulling a pillow out from behind his back and placing it between him and Ruth. Ben put the plate of cake in Sally's hands and Hoss reached out and lifted her up onto the bench.

"We missed you out here, Sally. Even with all the good singers here tonight, you could still hear all my clinkers. We needed you to help drown me out," Joe said laughingly.

"Well, now that the full choir is here, we'll just have to do another song," said Carolyn.

"One more song and then it if off to bed for one of the fledglings." Adam said winking at her.

"Papa!"

"Lizzie!"

"Lizzie, why don't you collect the plates and forks and take them into Hop Sing and then we'll sing one more song," Ben said.

"Yes, Grandpa," said Lizzie hopping down with her plate in her hand.

"Sally, why don't you help," said Ruth.

Sally looked up at her mother with surprise written on her face.

"Go on now," Ruth encouraged.

Lizzie and Sally soon had their hands full of plates and forks and they headed back to the kitchen.

"How come you didn't come down and sing?" Lizzie asked as they put the dishes down on the drain board.

"You know why," Sally said shyly.

"Papa spanked you, huh? I told you so."

"Did not!"

"Did too, Jenny and I both told you and we tried to keep you from going up to the house. I got in trouble; by the way, because of the way I tried to stop you. You were just dumb to go up there." Lizzie said in a huff.

Sally hung her head. "Was not," she said with very little conviction.

"Were too! When Papa says not to do something or he'll spank you and you do it anyway, he always catches you and he always spanks. Jenny says Mr. Mason does too." Lizzie said sympathetically.

"Mr. Mason too?"

"Yep, if he had caught you up in that house he would have told your grandpa or mama for sure."

"But I thought he was my friend."

"He's nice and fun and he's my friend too, but he's also a papa and papa's spank when you do dangerous things."

"I never got spanked before I got here,"

"I could tell," Lizzie said, rolling her eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you were pretty naughty when you came here and you got away with lots of things that I would have been in trouble for."

"Does your papa spank you a lot?"

"Not very often," Lizzie said blushing, "but sometimes."

"Does he stay mad at you? He says he's not mad at me anymore, but I don't believe him."

"Papa doesn't lie," Lizzie said vehemently.

"So, what do I do now?" Sally asked turning her back and taking a step away from Lizzie.

"I don't understand," Lizzie said. "Papa punishes me, I tell him I'm sorry and he forgives me and it's over. Isn't that what happened?" She asked quizzically.

"I didn't apologize," Sally said in an embarrassed voice.

"Why not? Papa said it only gets harder when you wait. Aren't you sorry?"

"Yeah, but your papa's kind of mean," Sally said in a whisper.

"He is not! He spanked you 'cause you did something dangerous; if he were mean he wouldn't have cared. He coulda just let you get hurt by the house!"

Sally started to cry just as Adam came into the kitchen.

"What's taking so long?" When he saw Sally crying, he knelt down to pull her into a hug. "Why are you crying?"

"She thinks you're mean 'cause you spanked her and I told her that you weren't mean that you just didn't want her to get hurt by the house. I didn't mean to make her cry!" Lizzie started to tear up too.

"All right, let's see if we can sort this out," Adam looked at Lizzie and then down at Sally who was starting to pull away. "Come over here you two," Adam said, taking them each by a hand as he took a seat on the bench against the wall. He lined them up next to each other and asked, "Who wants to start? Lizzie?"

"I'm sorry I made you cry. I didn't mean to, I was just trying to explain to you that Papa doesn't punish you to be mean, he does it so that you won't make the same mistake again. Right, Papa?" Lizzie said turning first to Sally and then back to Adam. Adam smiled at her and reached out to cup her cheek, then let his hand drop to her shoulder.

"Did you think I was being mean to you Sally?" Adam asked her, trying to catch her eye.

Sally nodded.

"Well, Lizzie's right. I don't want you to put yourself in danger again like you did going up to that house and that's why I spanked you. I told you I cared about you and I meant it. I didn't do it to be mean. Do you believe me?"

Sally nodded and looking at him with shining eyes, she said, "I'm sorry I went up to that house. If you hadn't a come looking for me I could have died up there."

"I wouldn't have left you up there. I would have kept looking for you until I found you. I promise." Adam reached out his other hand and rubbed his thumb across her cheek. "And I accept your apology, thank you. It's over, no more feeling bad about it, just don't do it again, all right?" Adam sat back and folded his hands. "Now, I think there is another apology that needs to be accepted, huh? I believe Lizzie apologized for making you cry."

Sally turned to Lizzie, "It's all right and I know you didn't mean to make me cry."

Lizzie heard Adam sigh softly at that and said, "It's not all right; I shouldn't have made you cry but I'm glad you forgive me."

Adam stifled a small smile at those words and said, "Good! Let's go sing, everybody's waiting."

The girls nodded and ran off to the front porch together.


	29. Moonlight

Adam followed the girls back out to the porch and sat down between Lizzie and Carolyn. He reached out and squeezed Carolyn's knee and gave her a gentle smile. He then leaned over and whispered into Lizzie's ear and she nodded.

"Well, Sally," Adam looked at Sally taking her place beside Hoss and her mother, "Lizzie and I think that since we have sung all of our favorites, you will get to choose the last song. What's your favorite?"

"You'll think it's dumb," Sally pouted.

"Sally, if I can play it, we'll sing it. Right everybody?" He glanced around at all the nodding adults on the porch, "just tell us what it is."

"Promise not to laugh?"

"Promise."

"Do you know Jingle Bells?" She asked shyly.

Adam really had to stifle a laugh, but he didn't want to embarrass Sally, so he quickly composed himself and said, "Know it? I used to sing it year around! You couldn't have picked a better song!" He then began to play it with gusto. With a laugh, everyone joined in.

After they finished the song, Ben said, "That was an excellent choice to end the evening, Sally. Thank you." He pointed at Sally and said, "Adam really did sing that song all year around and as loudly as he could." He winked at her.

Adam laughed and shrugged, then he stood and held out a hand to Lizzie, "And on that note, Lizzie will be saying good night."

"Papa…" Lizzie started, looking up at him hopefully.

"Lizzie…" Adam said in a deep voice and shook his head. "Time to say goodnight." He met her eye and nodded.

Lizzie sighed and began hugging each of her family members and then did a sort of half wave to Carolyn, Joshua and Ruth, wishing them a goodnight, before turning and going into the house with Adam coming after her.

Adam got Lizzie's nightgown down from the wardrobe and after handing it to her, her pulled down the covers on her bed and sat down to wait while she changed.

"Papa?" Lizzie asked as she came out from behind the screen. "Did Miss Carolyn tell you that she wanted me to call her Carolyn?"

"She did," Adam answered, nodding.

"Is that all right with you?" Lizzie asked, ducking her head.

"Of course it is, she's given you permission to be less formal with her and I hope that means you're starting to be friends."

"She helped me clear the table, I liked that!"

Adam laughed, "I'll bet you did. That was very kind of her, did you thank her?"

"I can't remember," Lizzie said honestly.

"Well, I'll cover for you," Adam smiled held up the covers for her to climb in, "I'll tell her you mentioned to me how much you appreciated the help and wanted her to know that. That will make her happy."

"All right," Lizzie said, climbing under the covers. "Papa?" Lizzie asked as she pulled the pillows up behind her to lean on, "Do you think you might marry Miss Carolyn?"

"Well, I'm just getting to know her, so I don't know," Adam said sincerely.

"If you did where would you live?"

"I think that's something that the three of us would have to decide together, since if we got married we'd all three be living together," Adam said seriously.

"I like living here, do you think we'd have to leave? I like living with Grandpa and Uncle Hoss and Uncle Joe."

"A woman likes her own place, Lizzie. If I were to get married, we'd probably go back and live in the house you and I shared with your mother. We'd still see your uncles and grandpa pretty often."

"It wouldn't be the same!" Lizzie whined.

"No, it wouldn't be the same, but I think we are putting the cart before the horse. Carolyn and I are just getting to know each other. We won't be getting married anytime soon and if we do, all three of us will discuss where we want to live, you included."

"Papa, would Carolyn be my mother then?"

"That would be for you to decide, Lizzie. She might be your mother, or she might just be your really close friend." Adam reached out to stroke Lizzie's cheek and asked softly, "Do you want a mother?"

"Sometimes I can't remember Mama at all. Is that bad?" Lizzie asked bashfully. "I don't miss her 'cause I don't remember her."

"No, Lizzie, that's not bad. You were very young when she died. Maybe it's my job to remember her for both of us," Adam said wistfully.

Lizzie's eyes lost focus as she thought and Adam sat quietly and watched her think.

"Papa," she finally asked, "am I like her?"

"Yes, Lizzie in a lot of ways you are like her," he stood up and picked up the mirror from the chest of drawers and handed it to her "when I look at you I see her eyes and the way your nose turns just a little bit to the left is just like hers." He reached out and touched her nose gently. "She was kind and thoughtful like you, but you are much more outgoing than she was, you probably got that from your grandpa, because you're much more outgoing than me too. Your mama was very intelligent and I think you are blessed with intelligence from both your parents. You have the Cartwright temper and you got all of that from me; your mama hardly ever lost her temper and when she did, she would get quiet and thoughtful. She never yelled, not even when you decided to open all the freshly canned preserves by dropping them on the floor." Adam laughed. "Oh, she was furious at you, but she just picked you up, cleaned you up, put you in your crib and then spent the rest of the day cleaning up the mess you had made."

"Did I get in trouble with her?"

"No, you were so little you didn't know that you had done anything wrong. I think she was angry with herself too for not catching you before you had dropped all the jars on the floor. By the time I got home that night, she had the mess cleaned up and she was well on her way from anger to laughter about it all. You're like her in that way too, happy and optimistic, not a brooder like I can be sometimes." Adam's mind went back to the past and his face took on a sad expression.

"Papa, are you sad that she's dead?"

"Yes, Lizzie I'm sad, but just because she's gone, doesn't mean that we should just crawl into a hole and wait to die ourselves. She would want us to be happy and to carry on. I still miss her, but it isn't the same as when she first died. I find I miss her when I think about her, but it is kind of a happy/sad feeling. I'm happy I knew her and loved her, but it doesn't hurt as much and then I look at you and you make me happy." He reached out and took the mirror from her hands and said, "Now, how about Rapunzel tonight? Do you remember that she had a lovely singing voice too?"

Adam laid the mirror on the chest of drawers and picked up the fairy tale book that was lying beside it. He came back to the bed and slid in next to Lizzie, "There were once a man and a woman who had long in vain wished for a child," he began.

By the time Adam finished the story, Lizzie was asleep and he quietly laid the book on the chest of drawers, put out the light and left. As he walked down the hallway, he saw the door to the guest room open and saw that Ruth was tucking Sally into bed. He leaned in the door jam and said, "I just wanted to say good night, Sally. I'm glad you came down to sing with us. Your mother was right, you do have a pretty voice."

"Well, that's quite a compliment, Sally, coming from a fine musician like Adam, what do you say to that?" Ruth looked at her daughter and raised her eyebrows.

"Thank you, Adam," Sally said promptly.

"You're welcome," he said and walked into the room. "Remember this day is over and we start fresh tomorrow, so sleep well." He reached past Ruth and squeezed Sally's hand. "See you in the morning," Adam said and smiled. "I'll send your grandpa up to say goodnight."

Adam walked down the stairs to the great room to where Joshua, Carolyn and Ben were talking quietly.

"Pardon me for interrupting, but Joshua, Sally is ready to say goodnight," he reached out to take Carolyn's hand, "and I'm hoping you and I, Carolyn, might take advantage of the moonlight. If you will excuse us, Pa." He said nodding at his father and drawing Carolyn to her feet.

Carolyn moved close to Adam and he put his arm around her waist, leading her to the front door and onto the porch.

"Lizzie wanted me to thank you for helping her with the dishes," he said taking her hand. "You were very kind to do that and she appreciated it."

"She's a dear, little girl, Adam. I want her to like me."

"Lizzie likes you," Adam said, "not as much as me," he said with a laugh, "but she likes you. I saw how kind and thoughtful you were towards her, Carolyn. I appreciate you understanding how important she is to me and where a woman will fit into that relationship."

"Adam, Lizzie is important to you, so she is important to me. I don't want her to ever feel that I am taking you from her."

"Thank you, I appreciate you taking her feelings into consideration. I saw how you took my father's arm so that I could escort Lizzie to the table and I saw how you sat on the edge of the bench so I could be near both you and Lizzie when we sang. That quiet thoughtfulness is something very attractive about you," Adam paused. "Would you like to take a walk in the moonlight?" He asked, leading her down the steps and out along the path.

"My mama warned me about taking strolls in the moonlight, Adam," she giggled and squeezed his hand with both of hers, leaning back and putting up a little resistance.

"Oh?" he teased, taking her other hand and pulling her towards him with a tug and catching her against his chest. "What exactly did she warn you about? Did she warn you that a man might make romantic overtures, like this?" He asked, bending his head down to kiss the back of each of her hands before turning them over to kiss her palms.

"Or did she warn you that he might, make advances like this?" He whispered, reaching over to push her hair behind her shoulder as he nuzzled her neck and ran kisses from her ear to her collarbone. Carolyn blushed and giggled as his beard tickled her neck. She bent her head toward his and caught his head between her shoulder and neck, pulling his lips in closer.

"Or did she tell you that a man might be so bold as to do this?" He backed her into a tree trunk and putting his arms on either side of her head, he placed his hands on the tree trunk, tilted his head, leaned in and brushed his lips against hers before taking a deep lingering kiss.

"Adam," she whispered, taking shallow breaths and putting her arms around his neck.

Adam didn't say anything as his lips held her bottom lip for the briefest of moments before he pulled away and came at her again for another demanding kiss, which she returned. Feeling her trembling legs moving against his knees, Adam put his arms around her waist and drew her in close for another kiss, parting his lips slightly and lingering just a bit longer, before pulling back with a smile.

"So, was your mother right to warn you?" He asked kissing her collarbone again.


	30. Dayton

Sorry this took so long, y'all! I hope you enjoy it! I am hopefully back on my writing kick. "I have plans for the Cartwrights and Browns," she said rubbing her hands together gleefully.

* * *

><p>After breakfast the next morning, Adam and Lizzie were doing one of the chores that Lizzie hated the most, scrubbing the feeding and water buckets.<p>

"Papa, I hate this job," Lizzie whined. "Can't I do something else?"

"Lizzie, don't whine. You just need to be big girl and do what you need to do. We don't want the buckets to get so dirty that they make the animals sick. No more complaining, understand?" Adam waved the wet brush at her.

"I still don't like it," Lizzie said softly.

Adam frowned at her.

"Sorry."

"If you don't straighten up, I won't ask you come along on a business trip with me today."

"A business trip?" Lizzie asked excitedly.

"Yes, but I don't take whining, complaining children on business trips with me," Adam said pointedly.

"No more whining or complaining, I promise," Lizzie said earnestly and started scrubbing the bucket with gusto.

"Good, do you think you might come with me to Dayton?"

Lizzie smiled broadly. "Dayton, really?" She started scrubbing faster. "When do we leave?"

"Well, we need to finish up the rest of the chores and collect Sally."

"Why do we need to collect Sally?"

"I asked her to come along with us and her mother said that would be fine."

"But Papa, she'll spoil the fun." Lizzie threw her brush down in the bucket she was cleaning.

"Lizzie, Sally is our guest and she is coming. If you don't want to come because she'll be along, then you can just stay home," Adam said sternly.

Lizzie folded her arms across her chest and frowned.

Adam put his brush down, put his hand on Lizzie's shoulder and crouched down before speaking.

"Lizzie, I know you are not terribly fond of Sally, but she is going to Dayton with me and I hope you. She is our guest and you will treat her with kindness and respect regardless of how you feel about her or how she acts. Now, if you want to come with us, then I need your promise that you won't be unkind to her," Adam fixed her with a stern stare. "Do I have your promise or are you going to stay home today?"

"I promise," Lizzie said reluctantly.

"Elizabeth?" Adam asked firmly.

Lizzie sighed, "I promise," she said with more conviction. Glancing at the frowning Adam, she said, "I promise, Papa. I'll be kind."

"Good, I know I can trust you to keep your promises. Now let's finish up here so that we can get on the road."

"I need time to change too, Papa. I can't do business in my work clothes. I wanna wear my new blue dress, Mr. Sterling hasn't seen that one."

Adam smiled, "Your blue dress is a very good choice. You are very becoming in it." He said as he went back to scrubbing the buckets.

As soon at the buckets were done, Lizzie ran into the house to change while Adam harnessed the horses and hitched them to the buggy.

Adam came inside to find both girls in separate corners and Ben sitting in his chair by the fire, frowning at their backs. Adam sat on the couch and waited for his father to speak. Ben glanced quickly over at Adam and then returned his gaze to the two girls' backs. After several minutes he said, "All right girls, come over here."

The girls left their respective corners and came to stand in front of Ben with their heads down, avoiding his gaze.

"Look at me," he said, taking their hands and pulling them close. "You are going to have disagreements and squabbles about things, but Lizzie, you are never to speak to anyone at the top of your voice during those disagreements and Sally, you are not to use unkind names for the person you are disagreeing with." Ben frowned at them, reached out and cupped each girl's chin, forcing them to look at him. "Now, is there something that needs to be worked out between you two, or are you two going to just let it go?"

"Let it go," whispered Lizzie.

"Sally?" Ben asked sternly when she didn't speak up.

"Let it go," Sally finally said.

"Good, then it looks like it's time for you two to leave. Do not pout and carry this outside into your day. You have both agreed to let it go and I expect you to do that. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Grandpa," Lizzie said.

"Yes," Sally said glancing at Adam quickly.

"Good," Ben said dropping his hands as Adam stood up.

"See you this afternoon, Pa," Adam said putting a hand on each girl's shoulder and walking them towards the door.

As they approached the door, Lizzie slipped out from under her father's hand and ran back to where Ben was sitting, she hugged him saying, "Bye, Grandpa."

"Bye, Lizzie," he said, hugging her back. "Have a fun day."

"I will," she promised and ran back to where Adam was waiting.

Adam got the girls loaded into the front seat of the buggy with Lizzie in the middle next to him and Sally on the outside. He set the horses in motion with a slap of the reins and glanced over at the girls before rubbing his hand over his face and considering how to snap them both out of the mood they were in before the day turned miserable for all three of them.

Adam glanced over at the silent girls and said, "You heard Lizzie's grandpa; you aren't going to let the disagreement ruin the rest of your day, right? So, Lizzie how about you and I tell Sally about Dayton?"

Lizzie looked out of the corner of her eye and him, cocked her head and decided that if would probably be best to give in and do as her grandpa and father had told her.

"All right," she said. "Well, we always go to the land survey office. Mr. Sterling is there and he has a dog that is going to have puppies." She said excitedly.

"She's probably had her puppies by now," Adam chimed in with a smile.

"Then over at the shop is Mrs. Wilson. She always has fun things in there. Papa only allows me to window shop though," she said with a frown and glanced quickly at Adam, who nodded at her with a slight smile.

"Papa are we going to Mr. Fiori's?"

"We are if Sally wants to," Adam said. "Do you like Italian food, Sally?"

"I like spaghetti,"

"He has spaghetti sometimes, but he brings other things too," Lizzie said.

"Tell her about the appetizers, Lizzie," Adam urged.

"They're usually strange," Lizzie said matter of factly.

"Strange, like how?' Sally asked.

Lizzie glanced at Adam and saw a nod before she started to speak " Like sweet mushrooms. Remember those, Papa?" She wrinkled up her nose.

"Do I? They were really different."

Lizzie laughed and said, "I've never had anything quite like them!"

Adam started laughing with her and then he said, "Lizzie and I really like Mr. Fiori and we don't want to hurt his feelings, so we always act excited when he brings us his latest attempt at an appetizer. If we don't like what he brings, we always eat a serving and tell him that we never had anything quite like it or we say they are different from anything we've ever had."

"He lets his cook make the main meal though and that's always good!" Lizzie laughed some more.

"So, Sally do you think you can eat a serving of something you don't like and be complimentary?"

"I don't know," Sally said thoughtfully.

"Sal-ly!" Lizzie whined. "We always go to Fiori's. I told you, Papa…" she said turning to Adam with a frown.

"Ah," Adam interrupted her, "not another word. Sally is being truthful and I appreciate that. We don't want her to be in a position of hurting our friend unintentionally. That wouldn't be fair to her. We'll find somewhere new to eat this time."

They rode on in silence for a while. Lizzie was pouting and had her arms crossed across her chest. Sally had moved as far away on the seat from her as she could and was looking out at the passing scenery.

"Maybe I could…" Sally ventured.

"No, honey, it's all right. Lizzie and I have had a lot of practice eating Mr. Fiori's concoctions. I don't want you to have to do something that you aren't comfortable with. There are other places to eat around Dayton."

"I'd like to try," Sally said earnestly.

"I don't know," Adam said thoughtfully. "Mr. Fiori's feelings are pretty important. If this is a day when he brings an appetizer that isn't good, you'd have to join us in eating a serving regardless of the taste."

"Papa, please, she said she could do it," Lizzie begged.

"Sally, you said you would try. You'd have to do more than try to be convincing."

"I can do it. I'm sure I can. I ate scrambled eggs the other day and I hate those."

Adam nodded. "You did, but you also complained about it and there can be no complaining in this case."

"I won't complain." She looked at him from under her eyelashes.

"Well," Adam hesitated. "All right, I know you'll be careful of Mr. Fiori's feelings."

"Thanks, Papa."

"Thanks, Adam."

Adam smiled as he guided the horses into town.

"All right," Adam said as he pulled the buggy to a stop and tied the reins around the hitching post. "First stop is the land survey office." He lifted the girls down and set them on the boardwalk.

Lizzie ran ahead with Sally following close behind.

She pushed open the door and walked up to a desk where a tall, gray haired man in a brown suit was sitting.

"Good day," she said. "I'm Elizabeth Cartwright and I've bought the entire state of Nevada, is this where I register my ownership?' She asked seriously.

Adam walked in the office, closed the door behind him and leaned against the door frame with a smile.

"Why yes, Miss Cartwright, you've come to the right place. I believe you were in here last month after purchasing California. I regretted not being able to help you with that deed, but a deed for the state Nevada should be no problem."

Lizzie started giggling, "Hi Mr. Sterling. How are you today?"

"I am very well, thank you. I see you've brought your father and a guest with you today. Adam," he said standing and extending a hand.

"Fred, it's a pleasure to see you. This is Sally Brown," he said putting an arm around her shoulders. "She and her family are visiting with us for a few days and she didn't want to miss seeing Dayton."

"You didn't blink did you?'

"Huh?' Sally asked.

"Mr. Sterling means that the town is so small that if you blink you might miss seeing it." Adam told her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Brown," he said extending his hand.

Adam pushed Sally forward and when she got close enough, Mr. Sterling took her hand and shook it.

"Rogue had her puppies since the last time you were here," he said looking at Lizzie. "Why don't you run back to our house while your father and I conduct our business. Mrs. Sterling is there and Rogue has a place right near the stove."

"Is that all right, Papa?"

"Of course, to the house and no where else. Promise?"

"Come on, Sally," Lizzie said grabbing her hand.

After concluding his business with Mr. Sterling, Adam walked back to find Lizzie and Sally outside with Rogue and her puppies.

"They've really gotten big!" Adam exclaimed. "We've been away longer than I thought."

"Too long if you ask me, Adam," Mrs. Sterling said getting up from the rocker on the back porch. "You're daughter's grown since the last time I saw her too, I think."

"Good to see you, Violet," Adam said, waving. "Time for us to head to our next stop."

Lizzie jumped up and ran over to Adam as she called, "Bye, Mrs. Sterling, thanks for letting us come see the puppies."

"You're welcome child," Mrs. Sterling waved.

Sally, however, did not put down the puppy she was holding.

"Come on, Sal," Adam called. "Time for lunch."

When Sally ignored him, Lizzie called "Come on, Sally!" She started to stomp towards her.

Adam reached out a restraining hand, leaned down and whispered in her ear, "I seem to recall you making me a promise this morning. Do you intend to keep that promise?"

Lizzie looked up into his serious eyes and nodded.

"Then give her a chance," Adam straightened up and said a little more firmly, "Sally, let's go."

Sally looked up at him, then down at the puppy, giving it a few more strokes before setting the dog gently on its feet and walking over to where Lizzie and Adam stood.

"Thanks, Mrs. Sterling," said Adam putting a hand on Sally's shoulder and giving it a squeeze.

"Thanks, Mrs. Sterling," called Sally and felt Adam's hand pat her shoulder twice and give it a reassuring squeeze, before it withdrew. When she looked up at him, he smiled and nodded before turning to walk out to the main street.

"All right, we are going to make a quick stop at the attorney's office and then head over to Fiori's. When we get inside I want you girls to sit quietly, it shouldn't take too long."

"Papa, can we go to the store while you're in with Mr. Long? He doesn't like children very much."

"No, I don't want you two at the store by yourselves and I don't think Mr. Long dislikes children, I just think he is not used to being around them. I'll try not to take too long with him and then we can go eat"

"You won't take too long with Mr. Long?' Lizzie asked, giggling.

"I'll only be as long as I need to be with Mr. Long, hopefully it won't be too long and you girls won't mind waiting for as long as it takes." Adam said with a smile.

They walked up the stairs to the office and as they walked in the door, Adam said, "Remember girls, I want you on the couch, sitting quietly until we're done. All right?"

Lizzie rolled her eyes at Sally, but nodded at her father.

Sally said, "All right, you told us already."

"Well, see that you do it then," Adam said gruffly.

He guided them over to the couch before turning to greet a short man in his thirties with glasses and almost no hair.

"Mr. Cartwright," Floyd Long said, glancing quickly at the girls who were sitting on the couch, looking around. "I have the papers you have come for, will the children be all right there?" He gestured sort of vaguely with his right hand and sniffed.

"Of course, Mr. Long. I would appreciate it if we could get right to business. We have plans to dine at Fiori's"

"Of course," Mr. Long said, twitching his upper lip. "I guess you must make due with what this small town has to offer in the way of dining establishments."

"Well, we enjoy the change from Virginia City," Adam said quietly. "If we can get started?'

After thirty minutes, the girls started to get restless. Lizzie was lying on her back with her legs up on the armrest and Sally was starting to stand up when Adam, turning from some papers he was signing said, "Girls, I know it's hard for you to keep waiting, but it should just be a few more minutes."

Lizzie, understood the implicit warning in his words, so, she sat up, folded her hands in her lap and sighed.

Sally on the other hand, stomped her foot and said, "I'm bored and I'm hungry, when do we go eat?"

"Soon, now sit back down and be patient," Adam said firmly.

Sally, sat down for a moment, but when Adam turned back to the papers, she got up and started wandering around the room, picking up things and examining them.

Adam put the pen back in the ink well, stood and walked over towards Sally, who immediately jumped back into her place on the couch.

"I'm waiting, like you said," Sally said innocently.

Adam growled and taking her arm he walked her over to the corner nearest his chair. He leaned down and whispered, "Do not test me. We'll be done in a few minutes and you'll wait right here where I can keep an eye on you." Sally pulled her head away from him and made a whining sound, but she didn't move from the corner as Adam moved away from her. He turned to look at Lizzie and raised his eyebrows. She immediately stopped swinging her legs and kicking the couch: something she had started doing when Sally started wandering. She then put her head down on her arm that she brought up to the arm of the couch. Adam looked at her for a few minutes making sure that she knew he could find a corner for her too if she misbehaved, before turning back to the desk. Ten minutes later, Adam had them each by the hand and was walking them along the boardwalk. He led them to a bench and taking a seat, he lined them up before him.

"I know that was a long time for you to sit still, but wandering the room and kicking the couch was naughty." He said in a low voice, and looking at them each in turn he continued, "Sally, you've done pretty well today doing as I've asked and you didn't put up a fuss about standing in the corner. Lizzie, I know you know better than to kick the couch like you were doing. I'm glad you stopped without my having to ask. I'm glad neither of you gave me a hard time, because if either of you had been difficult, we would be heading home right now. Instead we're going to Fiori's. I want to remind you of your promise, Sally. Are you sure you can keep it?"

"I'm sure," Sally said nodding.

"Good, then let's go see what Mr. Fiori can cook up for us today!" He said with a big smile.

"Always a surprise, right, Papa?" Lizzie said smiling as she skipped next to him.

"Always," Adam agreed.


	31. Fiori's

**Sorry for the long delay in the next installment of the adventures of Adam, Lizzie and Sally. I appreciate all the warm messages sent my way to encourage me to write some more. By the way, I don't speak Italian, so if the Italian is wrong, please let me know so that I can fix it. Just send me a PM. Thanks! Enjoy!**

Adam, Lizzie and Sally walked down the boardwalk to a brightly painted restaurant that had Fiori's written on the door. As they walked inside, a florid, overweight man greeted them.

"Mr. Cartwright, you brought the bambina, oh, no you brought the bambini. Where have you been hiding this one?" He gestured at Sally, who promptly hid herself behind Adam's leg. "No, I am mistaken again; you brought the ragazze and a very belle ragazze too. You aren't a bambina anymore." He reached out to hug Lizzie, who hugged him back, putting her face against his large belly.

"Luigi, old friend, this is Sally," Adam reached around behind his leg and pushed Sally in front of him, keeping her up against him with a hand on her chest. "She is here visiting us from San Francisco and wanted to try out the famous Fiori's restaurant. Lizzie and I told her how much we look forward to eating here and she insisted that we come."

"Your Papa, uh, he is buttering me up," Mr. Fiori threw up his hands and winked at Lizzie, "and it is working! Come, come, I must have known you were coming today, I have your table all ready."

Lizzie laughed and followed him, skipping, Adam took Sally's hand and giving it a squeeze, followed them to the table.

"So, Luigi, what do you have for us today?" He leaned forward and whispered in a stage whisper to Sally, "We are not allowed to order here, Mr. Fiori always brings us what he thinks we will enjoy."

"Today I made nettle soup and then I will bring you spaghetti with the largest meatballs you have every seen!" He held his hands out to his sides to let them know how big the meatballs were.

"That sounds fine, doesn't it girls?'

"How big is that meatball again, Mr. Fiori?" Lizzie asked and then giggled.

Mr. Fiori held his hands out to his side again and laughed, "Now you are teasing me! I will be back with your soup." He strode away with a smile on his face.

"Papa, nettles? Won't that hurt us to eat them?" Whispered Lizzie.

"What does she mean, hurt to eat the soup?" Sally asked a little too loudly.

"Shhhh, she means that the nettles are called stinging nettles and when you brush up against them, they sting you," Adam started.

"I'm not eating anything that's going to sting my mouth!" Sally declared loudly.

"Sally, I'm sure they won't sting your mouth. We'll just have to wait and see. I'll try it first to be sure, but no complaints and keep your voice down; we don't want Mr. Fiori to hear."

Sally crossed her arms and said stubbornly, "I'm not eating that soup."

"Papa…" Lizzie whined, looking worried.

"Lizzie, don't whine, please just sit there quietly for a minute," Adam was in a quandary, he didn't want to punish Lizzie by leaving, but he couldn't let Sally's defiance go unchecked.

Adam sighed, "Sally, I'll try the soup first to be sure that it is all right and if it is, I expect you to eat it just like you promised. Do you hear me?"

When Sally didn't answer right away, Adam stood up.

"I hear," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Good, and the next time you roll your eyes at me, you and I are going to have a problem," Adam said pointing his finger at her.

Lizzie watched the exchange with wide eyes. She shifted her gaze back and forth between Sally and her papa and was amazed at how brave Sally seemed to be. Lizzie couldn't imagine continuing to challenge her papa, especially after he had stood up.

As Adam sat down, Mr. Fiori appeared with the soup.

"Mr. Cartwright, is everything all right?" Mr. Fiori asked seeing the frown on Adam's face.

"Yes, of course, Luigi, the girls and I were just discussing how you take the sting out of the nettles to make soup."

"Ah, bene, of course, you would be worried a bit about that," Mr. Fiori held up a finger. "The way I take the sting out of the nettles is very complicated, very secret," he paused a long moment. "I cook them!" He exclaimed laughing.

Adam and Lizzie joined in his laughter, but Sally still looked skeptical. "Ah, your guest seems to still not believe me. Come, try it," he said, placing a bowl before each of them.

Lizzie and Adam picked up their spoons, but Lizzie held back watching her father. Adam took a small sip and smiled.

"Luigi, I think this is the best soup you have ever served me! Girls, give it a try."

That was enough reassurance for Lizzie and she took a spoonful. Then she smiled. "It is pretty good, Mr. Fiori. It tastes kind of like spinach…"

"Eww, I don't like spinach," whispered Sally.

Adam glanced quickly up at Mr. Fiori before turning a frown on Sally. He gave her a quick headshake and glanced towards the corner. Sally was starting to learn not to cross Adam and after a scowl in his direction she picked up her spoon and started eating the soup as quickly as she could, just to get it down.

Mr. Fiori, missing the exchange, smiled at her and said, "This one must really like it!"

Adam and Lizzie smiled up at him and he left the table smiling and humming.

"You are very lucky that Mr. Fiori didn't hear what you said, Sally. We agreed before coming here that you wouldn't say anything unkind. Do you intend to keep that promise, or are Lizzie and I going to enjoy the rest of the meal while you stand over there in that corner and wait for us to finish?"

"I'm eating it, aren't I?"

"Yes, you are, but we also agreed that there would be no complaining" Adam said seriously while frowning. "What do you intend to say when he comes back?"

Sally looked up at Adam and mulling over the threat of the corner, she said nervously, "I'll tell him I can't believe I ate stinging nettles. Will that be all right?"

"I think that will be fine. What will you say if he asks if you enjoyed it?"

"I've never had anything like it."

"Good," Adam smiled and started eating his soup. "It is surprisingly good, isn't it, Lizzie?"

"Yes, I'll be glad to say I like it. I don't get to tell him that very often," she giggled.

Adam reached out with a smile and stroked her hair. "I'm glad you like it and I am sure Mr. Fiori will be very pleased when you tell him that." Adam took one more quick glance at Sally before finishing up the rest of his soup. Adam sat back in his chair after finishing and said, "Sally you might want to put your napkin in your lap, Italian food can be messy and you don't want to get your dress dirty."

"I'm not a messy eater," Sally said putting her spoon down after finishing her soup.

"Put your napkin in your lap," Adam ordered.

"Fine," she said, picking it up and throwing it into her lap. She then crossed her arms and looked away from him.

Adam sighed and turned to Lizzie, "So, Lizzie, tell me about Rogue's puppies."

"Well, Papa, they are five weeks old now and I liked the spotted one the best."

Adam and Lizzie kept up their conversation, ignoring Sally's crossed arms and scowl.

Soon Mr. Fiori returned and began collecting the bowls. "What did you think of nettle soup? Tell me, tell me!" He said excitedly.

"I liked it," said Lizzie.

"Me too," said Adam. "You should put it on the menu permanently."

"Well, I'll think about that. Do you really think it was good? How about you, Sally? Did you like it?" He asked eagerly.

"I've never had anything like it," she said and glanced at Adam. "I can't believe I ate stinging nettles." She threw in for good measure.

"Bene!" He said excitedly. "I'll be right back with your spaghetti," Mr. Fiori said, as he walked away singing.

"Good girl, Sally," Adam said, nodding at Sally. "Well done." He praised her. "But was it really so bad?'

"I guess not, I didn't hate it as much as scrambled eggs."

"Well, you made Mr. Fiori happy and that's what counts."

Mr. Fiori soon came back with three large plates balanced on his forearms. Each was a plate of spaghetti and one gigantic meatball.

"That is the biggest meatball I have ever seen!" Lizzie said in wonder.

Mr. Fiori laughed and put a plate down in front of each of them, "Mangi," he commanded and walked away.

Sally stabbed her meatball with her fork and started gnawing on it.

"Sally," Adam scolded, "that's not how a lady eats. You need to cut it up."

"It's fine," she replied, taking another bite.

With that comment, Adam had had enough of the sass and he stood up, walked around to a surprised Sally and pulled her from her chair. He took the fork and meatball from her hand and placed it back on the plate. He then picked up her chair and pulled her and the chair around to his side of the table, he swatted her once before he put her in the chair. He then picked up the napkin from where it had dropped on the floor, opened it and put it into her lap. He finally picked up her plate and silverware and putting it down firmly in front of her, he proceeded to cut the meatball up into small bite size pieces and said, "When I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it. Do not tell me what you are doing is fine or sass me. Just mind me. Are we clear?"

Sally looked at him with a scowl.

"I expect an answer: a polite one."

"Yes," Sally said in an angry tone.

"Yes, what?" Adam asked leaning in very close to her.

"Yes, you're clear," she said in a sassy tone.

Adam decided to ignore the tone for the moment and address it after lunch. He returned to his seat and snatched up his napkin from the table before turning to Lizzie who had left her fork sticking out of the meatball as she watched her father and Sally.

"Do you need some help cutting your meatball up, Lizzie?" Adam asked a little more sternly than he had meant to.

"No, Papa, I can do it. Thank you for offering," Lizzie said politely.

Adam cringed at her response and was about to say something when Mr. Fiori returned to see the fork sticking out of Lizzie's meatball and asked, "You are not going to cut up that lovely meatball are you? You should eat it off the end of your fork! It is more fun that way."

Lizzie glanced at her father, before looking up at Mr. Fiori.

"It is in my restaurant, Mr. Cartwright, " Mr. Fiori said firmly as he placed the breadbasket down on the table. "My restaurant, my rules." He walked around the table and collected the knives.

"Luigi," Adam looked up him and shook his head.

"My restaurant, my rules. You eat meatballs at your house however you wish, but in my restaurant, you eat them my way. Capisci?"

"Capisco," Adam said laughing and stabbed his fork into his meatball and began gnawing at it. Lizzie laughed and did the same. Mr. Fiori winked at Lizzie and walked back to the kitchen.

"Hey," Sally whined. "You cut my meatball up. I got in trouble for eating my meatball like that. You're mean."

Adam sighed and put his fork down on his plate, "You got in trouble for not doing as I asked and for sassing me. If you had put down your fork and minded me, I wouldn't have cut up your meatball and you would be eating it the way we are."

"I'm not hungry anymore," Sally declared.

"Then you can wait for us over there in the corner," Adam reached over and pulled the napkin from her lap and said, "Go on." He commanded.

As he said it, Mr. Fiori arrived with a new plate of spaghetti and a new very large meatball on it. He picked up Sally's plate and put the new plate down in front of her. "I didn't want the guest to miss out on the fun." He said.

Adam reached over and put the napkin back into Sally's lap, "What do you say Sally, has your appetite returned?"

"Yes."

"What do you say to Mr. Fiori?"

"Thank you for the new meatball."

"You are welcome. Now, mangi!" He said as he walked away.

Adam looked at Sally with narrowed eyes. "You and I are going to have a talk after lunch about disobedience and sass. Now eat."

Adam turned to Lizzie with a smile, "What do you think your grandpa and uncles would say if they could see us eating meatballs this way?"

"Uncle Joe and Uncle Hoss would laugh and think it was fun. Grandpa probably wouldn't think it was polite. Do you think he would do as Mr. Fiori said anyway?"

"I'll bet he would. Like Mr. Fiori said, his restaurant, his rules. Now mangi!" He said laughingly.

After they had finished lunch, Adam paid the bill and thanked Mr. Fiori. Mr. Fiori waved them out the door and said he hoped to see them soon. As they exited the restaurant, Adam grabbed Sally's hand and said, "Let's go to the general merchandise. How does that sound?"

"Can I get something there, Papa?" Lizzie begged.

"Nope, window shopping only."

Lizzie skipped ahead and Sally tried to get her hand out of Adam's firm grasp. He didn't say anything and he didn't turn loose of her hand either. As they neared the shop, Adam said, "You go on inside, Lizzie. Sally and I will be inside in a minute."

Lizzie stopped skipping and looked at her father and then Sally for a moment before saying quietly, "yes, Papa." She walked the rest of the way to the door and glanced back once more before going in the door.

Adam led Sally to a nearby bench and sat down, pulling Sally around to stand in front of him and putting his hands on her waist he said, "Today is supposed to be a fun day for all of us. But if you don't start speaking to me more respectfully and doing as I ask, it can stop being fun very quickly. I give only one warning and this is it. You start behaving properly and I'll let your actions at the restaurant go and we'll enjoy the rest of the day together. You put one toe out of line and something else is going to happen. I think you know what that is."

Sally looked at the ground and nodded.

"All right, then look me in the eyes and tell me you understand."

Sally kept looking at the ground.

"All right, not fun route it is." Adam took Sally's hand and stood up, as he looked for a private place to take her.

Sally looked up at him suddenly and began pulling at his hand, crying, "No, no, no! I understand! I understand!"

Adam sat back down, but didn't release her hand "You used up your one warning, Sally," he pointed to the alley next to the store. "You walk over to that alley with me quietly and I'll go easy on you. You fight me and you'll regret it."

Adam stood back up and led an unresisting, but slowly moving Sally to the pile of packing crates that were in the nearby alley. Taking a seat, he said sternly, "When you speak to me, I want you to say yes, Adam or no, Adam. When I ask you to do something, I expect you to do it without excuse or complaint. Finally, you need to mind your tone, being sassy or disrespectful is only going to get you in trouble. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Adam," Sally looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

"I think you do," Adam said softly. "The way you answered me just now is exactly what I want to hear from you from now on."

Adam turned her to the side and landed three firm swats to her backside, which he knew through all those petticoats would just sting slightly, as he said, "No more sass, no more disrespect and no more disobedience."

"Yes, Adam," Sally said gratefully. Knowing that he had gone very easy on her; she threw her arms around his neck. Adam smiled as he held her, then he whispered, "Are you ready to do some window shopping?"

He heard a whispered, "Yes, Adam."

He reached into his pocket and pushing her a little bit away from him he wiped away her tears and said, "You're doing really well, Sally. Keep it up." Standing up, he put his arm around her shoulders and together they walked into the general merchandise store.

Sally ran out from under Adam's arm as they entered the store, but stopped and looked back at him, "It's all right," he said. "Look around; enjoy yourself."

"Mrs. Grey, so good to see you," Adam said, addressing the wife of the store owner as he leaned against the counter.

Lizzie and Sally prowled the aisles looking at things and pointing the ones they really liked out to each other. They even brought Adam over to see a few things. He praised their good taste and agreed that many of the things in the store would be wonderful to have. Mrs. Grey made quiet note of the things the girls especially liked and wrote them down in her ledger, so that when Adam came back to town he could purchase some of them for Lizzie's birthday and Christmas. After 30 minutes of shopping, Adam announced it was time to be on the road. He was pleased when both Lizzie and Sally ran over to him without hesitation.

"Say good-bye to Mrs. Grey, girls" Adam said as he put a hand on each of their shoulders and guided them out of the store.

"Bye, Mrs. Grey," the girls said together.

"Good-bye, girls. Come back any time," Mrs. Grey said as she waved.

They were soon loaded up in the buggy and on their way home. After about five miles, Lizzie spotted a field of dandelions.

"Papa, dandelions!"

"I see them," he said with a huge grin on his face.

"Papa!" Lizzie said in an exasperated tone.

"Yes?" Adam asked innocently.

"Papa," Lizzie sighed in an exaggerated way. "May we please stop?"

"Oh, I suppose," Adam replied, even as he was pulling the buggy over to the side of the road.

Lizzie climbed over Sally and was in the field as soon as the buggy stopped. Sally looked over at him.

"Well, go on," he said smiling as he motioned with the back of his hand.

Sally looked over at Lizzie who was picking dandelions and blowing the seeds off.

"Go pick the dandelions and blow the seeds off like Lizzie is doing. It's fun. You'll like it."

Sally climbed down from the buggy and picked a flower and tentatively blew on the flower watching the seeds float away. Then she giggled and started running and picking flowers as quickly as she could.

Adam watched the girls enjoying themselves and smiled at Sally. She had clearly never done anything like this before and he was pleased to watch her so happy and enjoying herself. He also felt a twinge of sadness for her. She had grown up with so few boundaries on her behavior that is was hard for her to feel secure about what she should be doing. He smiled at how grateful she had been when he had kept his promise to spank her, but had gone easy on her. He was glad that she had recognized that as mercy. He hoped maybe she would learn to be grateful that way with the people around her.

He was lost in his thoughts, when Lizzie and Sally ran over to the buggy.

"Papa, Sally has a splinter."

He stepped down from the buggy and said, "Well, let's see."

He took the hand that she held out to him and locating the splinter he pulled his pocketknife out and letting go of her hand he pulled out the blade and wiped it on his pants leg. When he reached out for her hand again, Sally put it behind her back.

"Sally, it won't hurt and you'll feel better when the splinter is out."

Sally kept her hand behind her back and shook her head.

"Papa's really good at getting splinters out Sally," Lizzie said encouragingly.

When Sally kept her hand behind her back, Adam said, "All right," he closed the blade and put it back in his pocket. "Time to head home."

He lifted the girls back into the buggy and as he walked around to his side, Lizzie slid into his place; then she turned and smiled up at him.

"Do you think you're going to drive us home?"

Lizzie nodded.

"All right, we'll take turns. You first, then Sally."

He pulled Lizzie up into his lap and arranged the reins in her hands, putting his hands over hers and said, "All right, get them started."

Lizzie slapped the reins and the horses started up. Adam and Lizzie guided the horses back onto the road. After about 15 minutes, Adam could feel Lizzie's arms getting tired.

"Are you ready to take a break? Sally wants a turn."

Lizzie looked back over her shoulder at him and nodded, saying, "Yes, Papa."

"Pull them over to the side of the road and get them stopped," Adam commanded.

Lizzie did as she was told and then slid off his lap.

"You're getting really good at getting us stopped and started," he praised and Lizzie smiled.

"Thanks, Papa."

"Come on, Sally."

Sally looked skeptically at him. "I don't want to drive."

"But I want you to try. Do as I ask and come over here."

Sally sighed and climbed over Lizzie. Adam picked her up and putting her in his lap, he whispered, "You can't make a mistake. I'll be right here and we'll do it together."

Adam laced the reins through Sally's fingers and then placed his hands over hers.

"All right, now don't pull on the reins, just slap them down on their backs." Sally did as he asked her and after a couple of slaps, the horses started up.

"Good," Adam said.

The girls alternated back and forth like that until they reached The Ponderosa. As they pulled into the yard, Adam lifted Lizzie on to the ground. He then turned and lifted Sally down.

"Girls, go upstairs and change your clothes, then come back here and help me with chores."

Lizzie turned to go, but stopped when she heard Sally whine, "But I'm a guest. I don't have to do chores!"

"You _are_ a guest and you _do_ have to do chores."

"Why?" Sally whined again.

Adam jumped down and taking Sally by the arm he commanded, "Elizabeth, go change your clothes." He then he began pulling Sally towards the barn.

"Yes, sir," Lizzie said and ran towards the house.

"Lizzie…" Adam started, turning, realizing what he had said, but she didn't hear him as she ran towards the house. He started walking towards the barn again pulling Sally with him.

"No, no, no," Sally cried as she realized where they were headed.

With every step towards the barn Adam got angrier and angrier. He had snapped at Lizzie because Sally couldn't behave and do as she was asked. He tightened his grip on Sally's arm and pulled the struggling girl who was becoming hysterical behind him.

"Please, please, please, no, no, no." Sally tried to sit down to stop the forward progress, but Adam just pulled her arm up higher and dragged her into the tack room, closing the door behind him.

Adam released her arm and throwing his hat down on a bench yelled, "Dammit, Sally! Are you really so determined to end up over my knee today?"

When Sally burst into fresh tears, Adam sat down hard on the bench next to his hat and scrubbed his face with his hands. He looked at the sobbing girl on the floor in front of him and felt his anger draining away.

Blowing out a puff of air and with it the last of his anger, Adam said calmly, "Come here."

Adam was amazed when she stood up and still crying walked over to him.

Adam sighed and reached out to take her hand, "We had a good day today. Do you really want to end it with a spanking?'

"No," Sally sniffed.

"Then what do you need to do?" Adam asked tiredly and blinked slowly.

"Go upstairs and change so I can help with chores."

"Yes, and other than the fact that if you don't do that I will spank you, why do you need to do that?"

"Because you asked me to?"

"Yes," Finally, Adam thought. "Now go change and come back quickly. Do not make me come looking for you."

"Yes, Adam," she said as she pulled the door to the tack room open.

Adam leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes.

"Adam, will you take the splinter out of my finger?" Sally asked tentatively.

"First thing when you get back. Now, go"

Sally ran out of the tack room and Adam heaved another sigh before standing up to go out and start unhitching the horses. As he exited the barn, he saw Lizzie filling up her pail with water.

He walked over to her and said, "Liz, I'm sorry I snapped at you. I didn't mean it."

"I know, Papa. I guess you have a Cartwright temper too, huh?"

Adam smiled and then laughed. "I guess I do. Do you think I can borrow your Apache tear sometime?" He pulled Lizzie over and gave her a hug.

She pulled the necklace off and held it out to him.

"Thanks, honey," he said as he tucked it into his pocket. Giving her another quick squeeze, he turned to unhitch the horses.


	32. Fair Lady

By the time Sally came back out to the yard, Adam and Lizzie were brushing down the horses.

Adam put down his brush and asked, "Are you ready for me to take that splinter out?" He wiped his hands across his hips.

"Yes," she said as she held her hand out to him.

He turned to Lizzie, and stroking her hair, he said, "You're doing a good job, Lizzie. I'll be right back."

Taking Sally's wrist, Adam led her into the barn, picked her up and sat her on the high workbench. "Ask me again," he said.

"What?" She asked looking up at him.

"Ask me again to take the splinter out," he said putting his hands on either side of where she was sitting on the bench. He leaned in towards her and crossed his legs at the ankles.

"Will you take the splinter out?" She asked looking down at where it was in her finger.

"I will, as soon as you ask me the way you should."

Sally looked up at him and realizing how close he was to her, she leaned back and said quietly, "Will you please take my splinter out?"

"It would be my pleasure," he said, standing up, he pulled out his pocketknife and wiped the blade on his pants. He reached out for her hand and she pulled it back, cradling it in her other hand. Adam put his hands back on the bench on either side of her and waited.

"Will it hurt?" She asked after looking at her finger again for a moment.

"A little bit, but I can get it out pretty quickly, I think. Can you trust me?"

Sally nodded and reached her hand back out to him.

"You're a brave girl." He took her hand and slid it under his arm, trapping it between his chest and arm. He turned his body so she couldn't see what he was doing and scraped the skin over the splinter exposing it so he could lift it out.

"All done," he said turning around and letting go of her hand.

"It's bleeding," she said, looking at her finger and then holding her hand back out to him. He reached to the end of the bench, slathered on a coating of the salve they used for wounded animals and then placed some gloves on her hands.

Lifting her down from the bench, he said, "Come on, I have a job for you."

Walking out of the barn, he took her over to the kindling that Little Joe had cut that morning.

"I want you to pick up the kindling and put it in that box over there by the house," he said. "If you stack it carefully it should all fit. Will you do that for me?"

She nodded as she looked at the pile of wood. Adam stood next to her with his hands on his hips not taking his eyes off her. She moved over to the pile and picked up a few of the sticks before looking over at him.

"Do a good job for me, all right?" He said, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Yes, Adam," she said.

Taking his hands off his hips, he grinned and said, "Good girl, that's what I like to hear."

Adam walked back to where Lizzie was still working and picked up a brush. He placed himself where he could keep an eye on Sally and began brushing the horse.

"Did you have a good time today?" He asked Lizzie.

"I can't believe I ate stinging nettle soup!" She said excitedly.

Then they were off, talking and laughing about the day as they finished the rest of the chores. Adam kept an eye on Sally the whole time, calling over to her frequently, making sure she knew he was keeping an eye on her. She worked at a snail's pace, but she didn't stop and by the time Hoss came out to get them for dinner, she had finished.

"Go inside with Hoss, Lizzie. Sally and I will be inside in a minute." Adam walked over to where Sally was putting the last few pieces of kindling in the wood box.

"You should be proud of the good job you did, Sally." He reached out to pull the gloves off her hands. "How does your finger feel?"

"It's still sore," she said holding it out to him.

"I'm sure it will feel better soon, now that the splinter it out. Let's go in to dinner." He put his arm around her shoulders and led her inside.

Everyone was seated at the table when Adam and Sally came to the table. He walked her over to her chair and pulled it out for her.

"Thank you," she said, drawing disbelieving stares from both her mother and her grandpa.

Adam smiled, "You're welcome." He pushed her into place and then reached out and patted her shoulder before taking his place next to Lizzie.

Ben started passing the platters near him and asked, "So, girls, tell me about your day."

"Well, Rogue has had her puppies, Mrs. Sterling said she had them on the bed. She said Rogue waited until they were at church to give birth. Mrs. Sterling said that Rogue was contrary that way and that the sheets had been ruined. She said she was really mad, but she was smiling when she told us." Lizzie giggled.

Everyone laughed at that news.

"Sally, what did you think of the puppies?" Adam asked.

"They were cute," she said.

"Did you have a favorite?"

'The spotted one…"

"That's the one you liked best too, wasn't it Lizzie?"

Lizzie frowned at Sally but didn't say anything.

"Tell them about the meatballs, Lizzie," Adam encouraged.

"They were the biggest meatballs I have ever seen, but before Mr. Fiori brought those, he served us stinging nettle soup!"

Lizzie told everyone about the day and Adam tried to get Sally to contribute, but she mostly just sat quietly and ate her dinner.

After dinner was finished and Lizzie had cleared the table, Adam came over to her and putting his hands on her shoulders, he whispered, "Would you like to go to the pond with me? I thought I might bring my guitar and just the two of us would go."

Lizzie eyes shifted to where Sally was sitting on the couch with her mother and asked, "Just us?"

"I'll get my guitar and meet you on the porch." Adam gave her shoulder a quick squeeze.

As Lizzie moved towards the door, Adam pulled his guitar from the corner near the staircase and announced, "Lizzie and I will be out at the pond; we'll see you all later." Without waiting for a response, he walked over to the door and ushered Lizzie out in front of him.

When they arrived at the pond, Adam found a tree to lean against and started strumming his guitar; Lizzie lied down on the grass near the pond and trailed her fingers in the water. They sat in companionable silence for about 15 minutes when Lizzie sat up.

"Papa?"

"Hmm?" Adam asked, still strumming his guitar.

"Grandpa told me about a thing called noodling; have you heard of that?"

"Mmm hmmm," Adam said as he strummed.

"There's a fish here right near the bank, do you think I can try it?"

"Is it a catfish? They have barbs, so you probably don't want to try noodling with a catfish."

"No, it's a trout."

"Well, then, give it a try," Adam said, standing up and coming to lie down next to her.

Lizzie slid her hand carefully into the water and slowly moved her hand toward the fish. She smiled as her hand moved closer and closer, but just as her fingers brushed the fish, it darted away.

Adam turned over on his back and laughed. "You almost had it!"

"Do you think I did?" She asked earnestly.

"Sure, you were moving really slow and I think with a little more practice you'll catch a fish that way."

"I thought maybe I moved too fast."

"I think the trick is to sort of scoop the fish out of the water just as your hands get under it, or move even more slowly so that the fish can't tell that your hands are near it. It might be easier if you stood up. I've seen the Indians do it and they are always standing. The noodlers in Louisiana catch catfish that way, but they actually let the fish latch on to their fingers."

"Ow…"

"Yeah, the best noodlers had hands that were pretty scarred up, from the barbs and the boney places in the mouths of the fish. If you try it again, remember not to try it with a catfish, I don't want you to get hurt." Adam laughed again. "It's getting late, we probably need to head home." Adam stood and grabbed his guitar. Lizzie came over to Adam and hugged his leg.

"Thanks, Papa," she said quietly.

"For what, Honey?"

"For it just being us," she hugged his leg again and ran ahead, but she stopped when she saw a field dancing with fireflies.

"Papa?" Lizzie turned and looked at him hopefully.

"We don't have anything to catch them in tonight, Lizzie and it's getting late, maybe tomorrow night." Adam said and kept walking.

Lizzie looked longingly at the field for a moment and then ran to catch up.

They entered the house and found Ben and Joshua engaged in a game of chess.

"How was the pond?" Ben asked, looking up from the game.

"Lizzie tried her hand at noodling," Adam said as he leaned his guitar back against the wall.

"Remember when you told me about that, Grandpa?" Lizzie asked as she came over to the table.

"I do remember, but where's the fish?"

"We let him go, Pa. It was too small and we'd already had dinner. Lizzie will catch it another night when it's a little bigger," Lizzie giggled as Adam said, "Upstairs, fair lady, it is well nigh time you were abed."

"All right, 'night, Grandpa, 'night, Mr. Brown."

"Good night, Lizzie," the replied in unison.

Ben smiled as he watched Lizzie jumping up two stairs and down one and Adam walking slowly up behind her.

"I believe I will concede the game to you Ben, it is well nigh time I was abed as well. Tomorrow will be a long day," Joshua said as he stood.

"Good night, Joshua," Ben said standing as well. "I'll see you in the morning."

Adam followed Lizzie into her bedroom and pulled down the covers on the bed before he took a seat in the rocking chair.

When Lizzie came out from behind the screen, Adam held out his arms and said, "Come over here, Lizzie."

Picking her up and setting her in his lap, he started rocking and said, "I know I call you Fair Lady pretty often, but today, you really showed how appropriate that title is for you."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean how kind you were today. How many ladylike qualities you showed you possess."

When Lizzie turned to look at him, he kissed her cheek and she settled back into his chest.

"I know you are not fond of Sally and I know you didn't want her to come to Dayton with us, but you made the best of it. You took her to see the puppies and you were very polite in Fiori's even though Sally was having a hard time behaving properly. You went window shopping with her instead of leaving her to look on her own. You even tried to get her to let me take out the splinter in her finger. All of those things were very ladylike. You were very generous in the way you shared me today. Do you know what I mean when I say that?"

"No."

"It means that you didn't act up or try to get my attention when I was spending time with Sally. I really appreciated that you shared me with her. But most especially, my lady fair, tonight at the dinner table when you were telling about what happened today, you didn't mention a single time that Sally misbehaved."

I didn't want to embarrass her. I don't like it when people talk about the times that I'm naughty."

"And that, Lizzie, is called empathy, and only the finest of ladies have it. I'm always proud of you, but I was especially proud of you today and tonight." Adam hugged her before saying, "Come on, let's get you to bed."

"Papa," Lizzie said as he started to stand, "can we just sit here for a little while longer?"

"Sure, but I want you to close your eyes. It really is getting late," he said sitting back down.

Lizzie closed her eyes and snuggled down for a moment before her eyes came back open and she asked, "Papa, is it mean of me to be glad that Sally is leaving tomorrow?"

"No, honey. I know this has been a really hard week for you: having Sally around. It isn't mean to feel that way, but those are the sorts of feelings you need to keep to yourself. It's okay to tell me or your grandpa or uncles, but nobody else needs to know that."

"I am glad tomorrow is almost here," Lizzie said as she started to fall asleep.

Adam rocked for a while longer before standing, putting a sleeping Lizzie in her bed and turning out the light. He walked downstairs and said, "I'm going to enjoy the evening out on the porch, Pa," before he walked out the door.

Ben sat for a moment in his chair before he stepped over to the brandy, poured two glasses and followed Adam out to the porch.

"Do you mind some company?" He asked, putting the glasses down near Adam's elbow.

"No, Pa," Adam said sitting up and picking up a glass.

"You and Lizzie left pretty soon after dinner, is everything all right?"

"Yes, I just wanted to spend some time alone with her."

"So, your leaving had nothing to do with spending the day with Sally?'

"I guess it did, partly."

"You and she had quite the story of your day today at the table; did it go as well as you related it?'

"Actually it did go pretty well. Sally is coming along. She ended up in the corner once and I swatted her a few times, but she accepted it and she didn't pout or throw any tantrums."

"But…"

"But…the constant correction and guidance Sally needs is tiring. With Lizzie a raised eyebrow, or a frown, or me calling her Elizabeth is enough for her to correct her behavior. Probably half the time I am not even aware of my response to her misbehavior, she sees I'm not happy and she straightens up. With Sally, though, she may know I'm unhappy with her, but she doesn't know what's expected of her. It's like dealing with a four year old: Say please when you ask for something; you need to mind me when I ask you to do something; don't give an excuse or a reason for why you are acting the way that you are. I left after dinner because I needed to be with a child, my child, who doesn't need that constant guidance. Lizzie's in the habit of behaving a certain way and doesn't need that kind of vigilant attention anymore. I needed to relax and I knew I could around Lizzie. I know Joshua is your friend, Pa," said Adam shaking his head, "but he has done Sally no favors by letting her do whatever she wants. I think she really wants to do the right thing, but she doesn't always know what that is, or if she does, she's not in the habit and she's misbehaving before she even thinks about it. I found her looking to me more than once for direction. I even had to give her permission to get out of the buggy and play in the dandelions; she looked to me to be sure it was all right. Lizzie was out of the buggy as soon as it stopped because she knew it was all right."

"I'm not sure what can be done about that, Adam. They leave tomorrow and it will be out of our hands."

Adam smiled and gave a small laugh, "Lizzie asked me if it was mean that she was glad that Sally was going tomorrow."

"What did you tell her?"

"I told her that a lady can be truthful about such things as long as she kept her feelings private and only shared them with members of the family." Adam laughed quietly again before saying, "So, tell me Pa, am I mean to be glad that Sally will be going tomorrow?"

Ben laughed, "No, son, but I do feel a little bit sorry that you won't be influencing her the way you have been. I practically fell out of my chair when she thanked you tonight."

"She really is a sweet little girl, with a lot of bad habits."


	33. The Palomino

Joe and Adam were pouring themselves their first cup of coffee the next morning when they heard a cry from upstairs and then saw Ruth running out the front door. They exchanged a quick glance before putting their cups down and running out the door after her.

"Sally" Ruth cried before she began climbing over the corral fence that held the palomino.

Sally was in the corral with an apple that the palomino was delicately eating from her hand, but when Ruth hurtled over the rail, the palomino reared back and wheeled away hitting Ruth full in the face with its hip. She was thrown back and against the fence and fell in a crumpled heap.

"Mama," Sally cried running over to her as Adam and Little Joe ran the rest of the way to the corral.

"I'll keep the horse at the other side of the corral, Joe, you get Ruth and Sally."

Adam walked slowly towards the agitated horse, taking a rope off the side of the corral. He kept his distance, standing at the center of the corral, not moving, but keeping the horse's attention with his arms outstretched as Joe carried Ruth through the corral gate, followed by Sally. He glanced quickly over his shoulder checking on their progress out of the pen and never letting his attention entirely leave the horse.

After Joe and Sally were safely out of the pen, Adam back up slowly, keeping his eye on the horse and let himself out of the corral as well. Little Joe was walking across the yard carrying Ruth and Adam hurried to catch up with him.

"She's unconscious, Adam," he looked intently at her face.

"Well, let's get her in the house and then we'll go for Doc Martin."

Adam opened the door for Little Joe and he carried her inside. Ben and Joshua were sitting near the fire and leapt up when they saw Little Joe carrying Ruth up the stairs.

"What happened?" Asked Ben as he joined the line heading up the stairs.

"Ruth got thrown against the corral by the palomino," Adam said rapidly.

"Why was she in the pen in the first place?"

"She saw Sally out there feeding the horse and she was trying to protect her."

They entered the bedroom to see Joshua slapping Ruth's hands, trying to wake her. Little Joe brought over a wet cloth and began to bathe her face,

"She's not waking up. Why isn't she waking up?" Joshua said frantically.

"Joseph, go for Doc Martin," Ben commanded quietly. "Go as quickly as you can."

Little Joe stood up and handed the cloth to his father before quickly leaving the room. Adam eased out of the room too and went to Hoss's bedroom.

Adam knocked on Hoss's door and Hoss opened it almost fully dressed.

"What's up big brother?"

"There's been an accident, Ruth was thrown against the fence by the palomino. She's unconscious. Little Joe's gone for the doctor."

"Is she going to be okay?"

"We don't know yet."

"There's not much we can do right now, but I think we need to get the animals taken care of. I'm going to go and get Lizzie." Adam said.

"I'll put on my boots and be right down."

Adam went to Lizzie's room and finding it empty he headed downstairs. As he came to the landing, he saw Lizzie coming back inside.

"Where is everybody, Papa? I went outside and nobody was out there and the animals haven't been taken care of. What's happened?"

Adam took the rest of the stairs in a rush and took Lizzie's hand, leading her over to the couch. He stood her before him and said, "I want you to listen to everything I have to say before you ask any questions, all right?"

"Yes, Papa. What's wrong?"

"Sally went into the pen today to feed the palomino an apple, when Miss Brown saw her from the upstairs window, she ran down to protect Sally and in the process got thrown against the rail."

"Is Miss Brown going to be okay?" Lizzie asked in a worried tone.

"We don't know yet. Your Uncle Joe went for Doc Martin. So, I want you to go into the kitchen and have your breakfast. Then you need to go outside to do your chores and play outside. You can come in to find me if you need me, but I want you to stay out from under foot. If I hear anything I'll come and let you know. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said, nodding.

"Good girl, I knew I could count on you. Stay close, so I can find you if I need you."

"I will."

Adam kissed her on the cheek and rubbed her back as she turned and headed for the kitchen.

Adam joined Hoss out in the yard and started working his way through the pre-breakfast chores. They waved to a doctor that neither one of them recognized as he rode up with Joe and went inside to wait on the couch for the verdict. Joe came to join them soon after, throwing himself on the couch.

After a few minutes, Adam looked around. "Have you two seen Sally? I got so caught up in Ruth and the chores; I'm not sure where she disappeared to. Did she get hurt?"

Joe sat up, "I didn't even think to check. I was so concerned with Ruth. Do you want me to help find her?"

"No, I suspect she's upstairs somewhere, I'll go looking for her." Adam heaved himself off the couch and slowly climbed the stairs.

He started his search in Lizzie's room since Ruth was in the room that Sally and she shared. He checked the wardrobe and under the bed making note that he needed to tell Lizzie to take care of the three inches of dust that was under her bed.

He checked his and Joe's rooms next and coming up empty, he tried Hoss's room. That's where he found her: under the bed.

Adam peered under the bed and then collapsed down flat on the floor when he saw Sally hiding under the bed.

"Sally, come on out from under there," he encouraged.

"No."

Adam sighed, "Come on," he said reaching under the bed and taking her arm in his grip. "There's no need to hide under the bed. I want to talk to you."

With Adam's help, Sally slithered out from under the bed. Adam sat up and pulled Sally into his lap as he leaned back against the bed.

"Why are you hiding?" He asked gently.

At those kind words, Sally burst into tears.

"Ah, honey," he swayed side-to-side and waited for her to stop crying.

If anything, the tears got worse before they got better. Adam sighed and patted her leg and waited.

"Is Mama gonna die?" she sobbed.

"No, she's not going to die."

"But she's hurt?"

"Yeah, she hit her head pretty hard against the railing of the corral."

"It was my fault she got hurt," Sally wailed and burst into tears again.

"It was an accident. Accidents happen."

"But she wouldn't have gone into the corral if I hadn't have fed the palomino."

Adam stopped swaying and shifted Sally over so that she was sitting on his thigh. He took her chin in his hand and said, "You didn't mean for that to happen. That's why it was an accident. You're right, you shouldn't have gone into the corral, but it was still an accident. You couldn't have known what would happen."

"Will Mama be all right?"

"I hope so, the doctor is in with her now."

Sally sat in Adam's lap for a long time before saying, "Ben told me not to go into the corral; do you think he's going to spank me for disobeying him?"

"Well, you're going to need to discuss that with him, but I suspect he won't. You're facing some pretty steep consequences for disobeying him already, aren't you?"

"You mean Mama being hurt?" She whispered.

"Yeah," Adam said quietly.

"I'm never going to disobey him again."

"That's a good promise to make, Sally. You do your best to keep that promise, but nobody can be totally obedient all the time. My pa knows that and so do your Mama and Grandpa. You need to remember that when you're told no, it's for a good reason."

"Yes, Adam," Sally sighed.

Adam shifted Sally off his lap and stood up, working his legs a moment to get the blood circulating.

"Come on Sally, let's go downstairs and get you some breakfast."

"Is it all right if I stay up here? I want to be near Mama."

"All right, but promise to come downstairs if you need anything. All right?"

Sally nodded and walked over to the window.

Adam watched her for a moment and then left her quietly, heading back downstairs to join the watch with his brothers.

Twenty minutes later, the new doctor, Ben and Joshua came downstairs.

"Boys," Ben said. "This is Doctor John Fellows. He is new in town and is going to be assisting Doc Martin."

Adam and Hoss stood up to shake the doctor's hand and they all took a seat.

"Is she going to be all right, Doctor?" Joshua asked.

"Well, Mr. Brown, head injuries are tricky things. She was unconscious for quite some time and the fact that her pupils are unequally dilated concerns me. She is going to need constant supervision and The Ponderosa is quite a far piece from town. It would make me feel much easier if Ruth were closer so that I could keep an eye on her."

"Can she be moved? We could get a room at the boarding house or do you think I should take her back to San Francisco?'

"Oh no, Sir, San Francisco is much too far to take her. I do think she could make the journey to Virginia City if you take if very slow and easy."

"I'll have her there this afternoon, Ben, can you help me get her there?"

"Of course, Joshua," Ben said.

Ben followed Joshua and Dr. Fellows out to the yard and when he came back in, he said, "Joshua has gone to town to find a place where Ruth can recuperate." He paused and looked at each of them and they sat up knowing that something was up and they weren't going to like it. "I have also told him that since he will be attending to Ruth, that Sally can stay with us."

Although they all wanted to, they didn't groan, instead, they sat in silence for a full minute. Adam was the first to respond. "Pa, I have my hands full with Lizzie. She has been very tolerant of my divided time, but I can't continue to watch over Sally as closely as I have been."

"And I am not asking you to," Ben said in a gruff, irritated voice. "Your first responsibility is to Lizzie. Joshua is my friend and I agreed to allow Sally to stay. I will be responsible for her." Ben surveyed the relieved faces of his sons. "However, I will expect each of you to help me the same way that we all help with Lizzie. Sally is already a handful and with her not knowing us that well and with her family in town, I suspect she will be even more of a handful." He pointed his finger at each of them. "We need to help Sally adjust to living with us as quickly as possible and most of all we need to teach her how to behave." With that said, Ben, sat down abruptly in the chair by the fire as the enormity of the job he had just acquired dawned on him. He propped his face up in his hand and stared at the fire.

"Well," Adam said. "I guess I'll go break the news to Lizzie." He stood up and walked towards the door. "I'm sure she'll be as thrilled as the rest of us are," he muttered under his breath.

"And I guess I'll go break the news to Sally, does anyone know where she is?" Ben said standing.

Adam turned at the door and said, "Last time I saw her she was up in Hoss's room. If you don't see her, check under the bed."

"Thanks, Adam," he nodded and turned to walk up the stairs.

Adam started out into the yard, but then turned abruptly and headed back into the house. He walked past Joe and Hoss without saying a word and took the stairs up to his room. He picked up the Apache Tear from his bureau, slid it into his shirt pocket and then headed back outside.

He found Lizzie in the barn petting Lady.

He leaned against the door jam and said, "I guess Lady needed some time away from her kittens. I'll bet that's a big, exhausting job: raising kittens."

"She's a good mama," Lizzie said proudly.

Adam took a seat on a bale of hay and said, "Come here, Lizzie I want to talk to you."

Lizzie gave Lady one more stoke and then she came to stand in front of him.

Adam took a big breath before he started.

"Is Miss Brown all right?" Lizzie asked worriedly.

"That's what I want to talk to you about." Adam said solemnly. He took the Apache Tear from his pocket and hung it around Lizzie's neck.

Her hand went to it reflexively before she started saying, "No, no, no, no." Her voice escalated in volume until she was yelling.

Adam sat back and sighed. "I put that tear around your neck so you could use it if you needed to. I think you need to."

"I don't need to use the Apache Tear," she said viciously and threw it against her chest.

"Well, that's up to you, but whether or not you use it, you need to watch your tone. Come here, I want to tell you what's going to happen."

Lizzie covered her ears, "I don't want to hear."

Adam reached out and took her hands from her ears. "Lizzie," he said sympathetically, shaking his head, "me not saying it is not going to change the truth. Now listen," He fought her hands down as she kept struggling to return them to her ears. "Ruth needs to be watched over by the doctor, so Joshua is going to get a room in town and take care of Ruth. Sally is going to stay here with us."

Lizzie jerked her arms out of Adam's grasp and headed for the door of the barn.

"We had an agreement," Adam called. "No running away."

"I'm not running," Lizzie spat out; she walked to the door and leaned against the jam.

Adam leaned back against the wall behind him and waited for Lizzie to calm down. He watched her back heaving and when she finally turned back and walked over to him, she had the Apache tear firmly in her fist. He found he really couldn't blame her for her reaction since he was feeling the same way in many respects. He sat up and Lizzie came to stand next to his leg, putting her hand on his knee.

"Will you watch out for her?" She asked softly.

"Not the same way that I watch out for you. That will be your grandpa's job." Adam said earnestly, recognizing what she was really asking. "I will watch out for her the same way that your Uncle Hoss and your Uncle Joe watch out for you."

"Will she come with us to everything we go to, like she has been?"

"Well, Lizzie, Sally is going to be treated like part of the family while she's here. That means she is going to go places with us and do the things that the family does together. There will be times when it will be just us, but she's going to be included in the things we do." He lifted his eyebrows and nodded.

"Are you going to kill the palomino since he hurt Miss Brown?"

"No," Adam said frowning at the odd direction the questions had taken. "It was an accident. I saw it happen and the horse wasn't being aggressive towards Miss Brown, it was just trying to get away. If anything, the way he responded proves that you are a fine judge of character. I think he has a fine, gentle temperament, just like you said." Adam watched Lizzie thinking the things he had said over, before he asked, "What else are you thinking? What else do you want to ask?"

"How long is Sally going to stay?"

"Until her Mama is well enough to travel."

"Can I ask anything?"

"Yes," Adam said nodding. "Anything." He said in as reassuring voice as he could.

"Why can't she stay in town with her grandpa?"

"Her grandpa is going to be spending all his time taking care of her mama, he's not going to have much time to take care of Sally."

"She can take care of herself. She's the same age as me and I've stayed at home by myself lots of times."

"That's true," Adam said nodding. "But she'd have to stay in the boarding room without any company or fun things to do. She's a stranger in town, so she doesn't have any friends. Who'd make sure she got dinner and who'd tuck her in at night? Mr. Brown will be too busy to take care of important things like that for Sally. Do you really want her to be so lonely and miserable?"

"No…I just don't want her here," Lizzie whispered.

"I know and I completely understand," Adam said drawing her into his lap. "But doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing and right now, the Brown family needs us. So, we, the whole family, are going to do the right thing and take care of Sally and make her feel like part of the family while Miss Brown gets better." Adam pulled Lizzie back onto his chest and held her tight.

Ben had gone upstairs and found Sally still looking out the window.

"Sally," Ben said in a deep voice. "Come over here."

Sally jumped and her hands flew to her bottom, "Have you come up here to punish me?"

"No, but I do want to talk to you."

"Is Mama going to be all right?"

"The doctor thinks so, but he wants to keep an eye on her for a little while. Your grandfather is going to move her to town to stay in the boarding house with him and you are going to stay with us until she's better." Ben smiled and tried to make it sound like a good thing.

"But I want to go with Mama," Sally whined.

"She's going to need a lot of care, Sally. I think she'll heal faster if she knows you're here with us."

"Will I be allowed to see her?"

"Of course, we'll go to town very often so that you can see her."

Sally nodded.

Ben watched her for a moment and watched the emotions flickering across her face. He thought it might be a good thing to address expectations since she thought he was going to punish her when he first came in, he hoped maybe she would be a little more receptive and the foundation would be set better if he started planting the seeds now, a little at a time.

"Why did you think I was going to punish you when I came in here, Sally?" He walked over to the window and sat down on the window seat. He picked up her hands and drew her close.

Sally hung her head and said softly, "Because I went in the palomino's corral after you told me not to and Mama got hurt," she cried.

"Well, normally that would be something I _would_ punish you for: not obeying me about something that's dangerous. But the point of punishing you is two fold: first to be sure you won't do something so dangerous again and second to help you remember to mind in the future. I think you're going to remember to do both of those things, aren't you? Even without being punished."

Sally nodded.

"I think you're going to have a really fun time with us on the ranch and I'm glad I'm going to get to spend some more time with you," Ben said heartily. "You and I will get to spend a lot of time together and I'm sure it will be a great adventure for you trying all kinds of things that you can't do in the city, but you're going to have to learn to follow the rules and do as you're told. While you're here, you're going to answer to me."

"Not Adam?" Sally asked looking quickly into his eyes.

"No, you're going to be expected to mind Adam, just like you always have, along with Hoss, Joe and Hop Sing, but I'm the one that's going to be in charge of you and I'm the one you're going to answer to when you don't follow the rules."

Sally pulled her hands from Ben's and turned her back to him before she whispered, "I'm going to be in trouble all the time."

Ben stood and put his hands on her shoulders, "Why do you think that?"

Sally wheeled around, shouting "Because you have so many rules, I'll never be able to learn them all!"

"Sally," Ben said, pulling her over to the bed and drawing her into his lap. "I know the rules are different here than they are at home. I know it's going to be hard at first, but the most important thing you can do is to do as you're told. You'll get plenty of warnings from all of us when you're doing something you shouldn't. I promise I won't ever punish you for something I haven't warned you about first. You're going to need to remember what I warn you about though. As long as you do your best to do the right thing, you won't be in trouble." Ben hugged her. "Now, enough talk about you being punished. Do you want to go see your Mama?"

Sally nodded and smiled, but she felt the butterflies of worry start to move around in her stomach and her smile faded.


	34. Water and Bridges

Ben led Sally across the hall to the darkened room where Ruth was lying propped up in bed.

"Mama?" Sally called softly.

"Sally? Are you all right, honey? I was so worried." Ruth opened her eyes slowly.

"I'm all right, Mama," Sally started to cry. "I didn't mean for you to get hurt. I'm sorry."

"It was an accident and it was my fault, I shouldn't have jumped into the corral that way and startled the horse." Ruth said drowsily, she closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them again slowly. "I love you, Sally," she said before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

"I love you too, Mama," Sally said softly.

Sally looked up at Ben, who said, "Come on Sally, let's let your mother sleep; have you had anything to eat today?"

"No," she said sadly.

"Well, let's see what Hop Sing can find for you," he said heartily.

"I'm not really hungry," she said as she allowed herself to be led out of the room.

"Well, I want you to try to eat something. Now, come on."

Sally followed Ben down the stairs and sat in the chair he had pulled out for her.

"Hop Sing," he called, "Hop Sing."

"Yes, Mr. Cartwright," Hop Sing said as he came out carrying two plates of food, "I bring you food."

"Thank you, Hop Sing," Ben said gruffly.

Sally pushed her food around on the plate, but didn't eat much, finally Ben said, "Sally, I want you to eat what's on your plate."

"Not hungry."

"I didn't ask if you were hungry or not, now eat up."

"Don't like eggs," Sally said quietly.

"All right, this one time, you can skip the eggs as long as you eat everything else," Ben growled.

Sally ate slowly and when she had finished everything but the eggs, she looked up to find Ben watching her with his cheek in his hand.

"Good girl," he said. He stood up and putting his hand on the top of her head he leaned in and asked, "Do you think you can take our dishes in to Hop Sing?"

"Yes, Ben," Sally said, standing and starting to pick up the dishes.

"Good girl, that'/s exactly the way you should have answered me." Ben glanced up to see Adam watching them from the doorway.

"Your input I assume?" Ben asked motioning with his head toward the kitchen where Sally had gone.

"Yes, Pa, one of the lessons I tried to drive home yesterday. I think that one may have actually stuck." Adam uncrossed his arms and walked over to where Ben stood. "Joshua is outside and Joe is helping him get the wagon ready to take Ruth to town."

Joshua came in the door just as Sally came out of the kitchen.

"Grandpa, are you taking Mama to town?" she asked running over to him.

"Yes, Sally, I am," he said distractedly. He moved past her, barely giving her a glance.

Adam saw her face fall and crossed over to where she stood. He put a hand on her shoulder said, "Your grandpa's just worried, Sally." He watched Joshua climb the stairs, with Ben following him and gave Sally's shoulder a squeeze.

A few minutes later, Joshua came down with Ruth in his arms and Ben followed with a small suitcase. Adam jumped to open the door for them and followed them out onto the porch, leaving the door open. Lizzie ran out from inside the barn and Adam glanced back in the house to see Sally still standing where she was.

"Come on, Sally. Come say good-bye to your mama." When she didn't move, he walked over to her and putting his arm around her shoulders he led her out to the side of the wagon where Joshua and Ben were getting Ruth comfortable.

Lizzie ran up and standing on her tiptoes, she peered in at Ruth. Adam lifted Sally up and set her on the side of the wagon, keeping an arm around her waist to keep her from falling.

"Well, Ben, we'd best be off. I'd like to thank you and your family for the help you've been to us and for watching over Sally," he said, shaking Ben's hand. "You be a good girl, you hear Sally?" he said sternly.

Adam frowned, "She'll be just fine, won't you, Sally?" Adam said patting her hip. "Say good-bye to your Mama, we'll be in town very soon so that you can keep an eye on her."

"Bye, Mama," Sally said as she walked unsteadily over the blankets and pillows to give her mother a hug.

"Sally!" Joshua scolded.

Sally stopped suddenly at the reprimand and looked like she was about to cry.

Adam frowned again and said, "It's okay, Sally," he glared at Joshua, "Your grandpa just wants you to go easy. Your mama needs you to be careful of her."

Sally glanced up at Joshua and when she got a quick nod, she knelt down and crawled the rest of the way to where her mother lay and gave her a hug.

"Bye, Mama," she said again.

"I love you Sally and I'll see you real soon," Ruth replied.

"Come back over here, Honey, and I'll lift you out," Adam said. He reached out his arms and Sally obediently crawled back to the edge of the wagon where Adam lifted her out.

"Go give your grandpa a hug," he urged, setting her on her feet.

Sally walked around to where her grandfather stood and said, "Bye, grandpa."

Joshua caught a warning look from Ben and another one out of the corner of his eye from Adam, so he knelt down and holding his arms open, he said "Bye, Sally. I'll see you soon. Your mama and I will miss you." He wrapped his arms around her for a quick hug. He turned and climbed up onto the seat of the wagon as Ben stepped forward and put his arm around Sally's shoulders. Adam reached over and pulled Lizzie to his side and they all waved as the wagon pulled out of the yard.

"All right," Ben said clapping his hands together, "we all have things that need to be done. Let's get busy. Sally, you're with me."

Adam and Lizzie got busy repairing the chicken fence and she scowled as she watched Sally and Ben ride away on Buck. Adam raised an eyebrow as he watched the scowl on Lizzie's face before he said, "Lizzie, pay attention to what you're doing." He could feel her anger growing and he braced himself for the storm that was brewing. As they worked together, Lizzie seemed always to be on the verge of a tantrum, she answered Adam with short yeses and nos that were on the edge of disrespectful. Adam breathed a sigh of relief when the fence was finally repaired and Hop Sing had come out to tell them lunch was on the table.

"Go take the tools back to the barn and come inside for lunch, honey," Adam said encouragingly. He was trying not to respond too sternly to her attitude in the hopes that it would pass.

Lizzie picked up the tools with a humph and walked over to the barn, Adam picked up the coil of wire and followed her.

As he walked in the door, he heard her say, "Uncle Joe, how can I put the tools away when you've left all these other ones out?"

"Now, wait just a second, Lizzie, I'm using those tools and if you need help putting your tools away, you ask." He walked over to take the tools from her hands.

She turned quickly and tossing them up to where they belonged, she said, "I can do it myself."

"All right, that's it," Adam said, putting the wire down. He picked Lizzie up and carried her into the house.

"Put me down," she cried.

"When we get to your room," Adam growled.

When they got to her room, he put sat her down on the floor and said, "All right, let's have it."

"What?" She asked, crossing her arms and pursing her lips.

"The tantrum you've been building up to this morning."

Lizzie looked up at him with a shocked look on her face.

"Well, go ahead," he said gesturing with his hands, "throw yourself on the floor, kick and scream, I won't stop you and I won't punish you, just get it out of your system."

As Lizzie stood, she said, "That's embarrassing."

"And the way you've been acting this morning hasn't been? The way you just spoke to your Uncle Joe wasn't?" He demanded.

Lizzie kept her arms crossed and she stared at the floor.

"I'll go get your lunch," he sighed in frustration and leaving the room, he closed the door with a firm click.

Adam took the stairs quickly, trying to get a hold of his frustration and walking over to the table where Hoss and Joe were sitting, he picked up a plate and filled it for Lizzie.

"Don't wait for me," he growled and turned to go back up the stairs.

Adam walked back in Lizzie's room to find her staring out the window. He put her plate on the desk and pulled back the chair.

"Come sit here and eat your lunch, I want everything gone when I come back to talk to you."

When Lizzie didn't turn from the window, Adam said, "Do not defy me, you are in enough trouble as it is."

At those words, Lizzie, came and threw herself into the chair, but didn't start to eat. Adam pushed her in quickly and leaning down he whispered, "Clean your plate, I'll be back after I've finished my lunch."

He turned abruptly and left her room, closing the door behind him. He came back downstairs to the expectant eyes of Hoss and Little Joe.

"Is everything all right?" Joe asked. "It's not like Lizzie to act like that."

"No, it's not like Lizzie to act like that," Adam said as he sat and started filling his plate angrily. "But she is not happy that Sally is here and she is lashing out at people because of it. If she can't be civil, she can just stay in her room until Sally leaves."

Hoss laughed, "Adam, I think there is probably a better solution than that."

Adam turned angry eyes at his brother before he, too laughed, "I'm sure there is, but I am keeping her out of sight, if not out of mind, until I come up with a better solution."

He lapsed into brooding silence while Joe and Hoss talked about their plans for the rest of the day. After the meal, while not angry, Adam still hadn't decided on how to deal with Lizzie, so he returned to the yard to work on the other repairs that were needed about the house. An hour later, as he was looking around with satisfaction at the work he had accomplished, he glanced up to see Lizzie looking out of the window forlornly. Adam sighed and putting his hammer down, he made is way back to the house and up to Lizzie's room. She hadn't moved from the window, so he sat on the bed facing her.

"So, how did it feel to be eating lunch up here alone?"

"I didn't like it," she said quietly.

"Why not?"

"It was lonely."

When she said that Adam saw his opening.

"It's hard being alone, isn't it? Even though we were just downstairs, you were lonely." Adam declared.

Lizzie nodded, but kept staring out the window.

"Lizzie do you remember when I told you that ladies have empathy for others?"

Lizzie looked over at him and nodded.

"Empathy means that you can put yourself in someone else's shoes. I want you to put yourself in Sally's shoes. She's here, but her family's in town, she's feeling like you did eating lunch alone today, except, she's going to be away from her family for longer than just one lunch. Not only is she away from her family, but she's also worried about her mama and she's here with us who she doesn't know very well. You getting angry about her being here and lashing out at people is not going to change the situation. I want you to put yourself in her shoes and be understanding. Now, you can either hang on to that Apache Tear and your temper," he said pulling it out from beneath her shirt, "or you can sit up here for the duration with a sore bottom. Now, what's it going to be?"

"I'll keep my temper," Lizzie sighed.

"Good," Adam said. "I want you up here in your room thinking about things until I come back and while you're up here," he reached over for her book of fairy tales, handing it to her he said "I want you to read the Ugly Duckling. All right?"

Lizzie frowned, not understanding, but she nodded and said, "All right, Papa. Papa?" She asked following him to the door, "can I go and apologize to Uncle Joe?"

"He's away from The Ponderosa right now, when he gets back you may."

Lizzie nodded and carried the book to the bed.

A couple of hours later after stacking the wood he had cut, he once more took the stairs to Lizzie's room. Knocking and going in, he found her still reading.

"Scoot over," he said nudging with his hip and putting his arm around the pillows behind her. "Did you read The Ugly Duckling?"

"Yes," she said looking up at him with questioning eyes.

"Why do you think I wanted you to read it?"

Lizzie shrugged.

"Well, what's the story about?"

"It's about a duckling that's really a swan."

"And what happens to him?"

"He runs away 'cause everybody's mean to him."

"Why are they mean to him?"

"Because he's ugly?"

"Yes, but also because they don't know he's a swan. He's different from them."

""What happens in the end?"

"He sees some swans and he wants them to kill him…"

"But they don't, why?"

"I don't know."

"Because they know he's a swan and he's become like them, he's changed."

Lizzie nodded.

"Why don't you like Sally?" Adam asked changing the subject quickly.

"She's mean."

"Tell me when she's been mean to you."

"She slapped me the first night she was here and she cheated in checkers."

"Yes, what else?" He asked.

"She got me in trouble when I tried to keep her from going up to the Bannister house."

"You got yourself in trouble by pinning her to the ground instead of coming to get help. What else?"

"She threw a temper tantrum." Lizzie tried.

"That's had nothing to do with you, when else has she been mean to you?" He asked emphasizing the "you".

Lizzie thought for a while before she said, "I can't think of anything else."

"Me either," Adam said thoughtfully. "Except for that first night, she really hasn't been mean to you. I think maybe Sally is more of a swan than we're giving her credit for. She was fun to play Chinese checkers with, right? And she was fun in Dayton with the puppies and window shopping."

"She was naughty in Fiori's," Lizzie reminded him.

"Need I remind you of the way you spoke to your uncle only a few short hours ago?'

"No," Lizzie said, hanging her head.

"No one, to my knowledge, except Jesus, can lay claim to being perfect," Adam said reaching out to lift her chin. "Not you and not Sally; however, I do think that Sally has changed just like the ugly duckling did. I think we need to forget what happened the first night she was here and give her a second chance. I think if you treat her more like a swan, she might surprise you and act more like one."

"What do you mean treat her like a swan?"

"Be her friend, help her not feel so lonely while she's here. Can you give her a second chance, Lizzie?" Adam said looking her in the eye hopefully.

"How do I do that?"

"Just treat her like you would any new person that you want to be friends with."

"I'll try."

"Good," Adam nodded.

"Your Uncle Joe's down in the barn." Adam said seriously after a moment.

Lizzie closed the book slowly and slid off the bed. "Do you think he's mad?"

"You know your Uncle Joe, I'm sure he's already forgiven you and is just waiting for you to come and make it official. Go on now."

Lizzie walked down the stairs slowly, out the door and across the yard to the barn. She stood in the doorway of the barn watching Joe work. He glanced up and seeing her he said, "Hi, Lizzie."

"Hi, Uncle Joe," she said tentatively. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure," Joe said without stopping working.

"I wanted to say I was sorry for being sassy to you this morning."

Joe stopped working at those words and motioned to her with his hand, "Come here, Lizzie."

She walked slowly over to him and he picked her up, setting her on the workbench.

"Why were you sassy to me?" he asked, putting his fists on the bench on either side of her hips.

She looked down at her hands that she was twisting together into a knot.

"Cause I was mad."

"At me?"

"No," she hesitated a long time before saying "Cause Sally's staying here."

"Well, Sally's not gone, what's going to happen the next time you get angry that she's here? Do I need to be ready for you to lash out at me again?"

"No," Lizzie said looking up at him quickly.

"When you apologize, Lizzie it means you're going to try really hard not to let it happen again, how are you going to do that?"

"I'm gonna try to make friends with her so that I won't be angry that she's here anymore. I promise, I won't sass you like that again. Will you please forgive me?" She asked earnestly.

"Of course, darlin'," he said holding his arms open to her.

"Thanks, Uncle Joe," she said with relief, falling into his arms.

Joe heard Buck coming into the yard, and lifting her down he said, "It sounds like your grandpa and Sally are back, so here's your chance."

Lizzie nodded and ran out the door of the barn, "Hey, Sally, wanna see if Uncle Hoss will play bullfighter with us?"

Ben reached up to lift Sally down and Hoss hearing her call out, held his fingers up to his head like horns and started pawing the ground with his feet. Joe came out and took Buck from his father's hands and Ben went to sit with Adam on the porch.

"That's good to see," Ben said as he sat down.

"Yes it is," Adam replied.

"What brought about the change of heart?" He laughed as he watched the girls laughing and dodging out of the way of Hoss's charges.

I had a long conversation with her about second chances and how you have to look for the swan behind the ugly duckling. Funny thing is that I'm not sure if the lecture I was delivering was more for Lizzie or for me."

'Funny you should say that, son, I did a lot of thinking today too."

"About what?'

"Water and bridges."

"Oh?"

"Yes," he said steepling his hands, "I think you were right when you said that Sally's not intentionally naughty as much as she just doesn't know how she is supposed to behave. I can blame Ruth and Joshua and the lackadaisical parenting they've given Sally or I can just consider it water over the bridge and start fresh with her. I've decided to start fresh."

"Me too," said Adam. "And thankfully, I think Lizzie has too."


	35. The Story of the Docks

Adam and Ben sat in silence for a while, watching the girls and Hoss play. Little Joe came out of the barn and joined in, flapping a blanket and calling "Toro, toro."

"We all gave in to some uncharitable thoughts about Sally, Adam. I'm not going to let her continue to feel unwelcome," Ben said thoughtfully. He laughed again and rising from his chair he said, "I think the girls need some help taming that bull."

Ben jumped into the fray, picking up Sally and running at Hoss with her out in front of him. Adam cocked his head, watching them until he gave in and joined them. He picked up Lizzie and holding her like a battering ram against his hip, he too, ran at Hoss. They dodged and chased each other until there were all gasping for air.

"Now, this just ain't fair," Hoss panted. "Five against one is more than this old bull can take." He leaned against the side of the barn trying to catch his breath.

Ben swung Sally up on to his shoulders and said, "We'll give you a break; Sally and I are going to take care of our chores in the barn."

Adam reached out to tickle Lizzie and she giggled, backing away.

"Lizzie and I are right behind you, Pa," he said as he lunged forward, grabbing her and putting her on his shoulder.

Ben and Sally fed and watered the horses in the barn while Adam and Lizzie took care of the animals outside. There were just finishing up when Hop Sing began ringing the dinner bell.

As they sat down at the table, Ben said, "So, Sally and I visited almost all the tenants today. Tell them, Sally."

"Well, there was Mr. James, he was funny. He really likes his pigs. They were even running in and out of the house." Sally laughed.

As Sally talked and laughed, Adam reached over under the table and gave Lizzie's leg a sympathetic squeeze. When she glanced over at him, he patted her leg and gave her a half smile. When she didn't smile back, he reached over and stroked her hair.

"Sally," Ben said, noticing that most of her dinner was still on the plate, "you need to think about eating a bit more if you want dessert. You need to learn to eat what's put before you."

Sally nodded, but didn't eat much more quickly. She watched dessert being served and said, "Hey, I want some too."

"Finish your dinner before the rest of us leave the table and you may have some."

Sally thumped her fork down loudly.

"Now listen here," Ben said quietly, pointing his finger at her. "There is a way we do things around here and you're going to do it that way. You finish your dinner and you'll have dessert, but once the rest of the family is done, you'll stay here at the table until your plate is clean and no dessert. You decide."

Sally continued to pick at her dinner and wasn't finished by the time the family began to rise from the table. Lizzie looked at Adam and her grandpa for direction about what to do about the dishes and they both said at almost the same time, "Go ahead and clear the table, Lizzie."

"Just leave Sally's plate," Ben finished. He walked over to his leather chair near the fireplace and sat, crossing his legs.

Lizzie did as she was told, stealing glances at Sally as she did so. When she had finished, she walked over to Adam, who was reading a book, and climbed up into his lap. He shifted her over in his lap, putting an arm around her waist and kept reading, holding the book out away from him. Lizzie played with string that she had in her pocket for a while and then said, "Grandpa, what was it like when you were a little boy?"

"Well, Lizzie, how about I tell you about the day I decided I was going to sea?"

Lizzie said, "Yes, please," as she shoved the string back in her pocket.

Hoss, who was getting another cup of coffee, leaned down near Sally and whispered, "You should finish up your dinner; you don't want to miss one of Pa's stories."

"Well" Ben said sitting back, "it was one of those days that didn't start out very well. My mother was a fairly good cook, but that day the eggs she served me were runny. I know you don't like scrambled eggs, Sally," he said over his shoulder, "well I didn't like eggs runny. " Ben pursed his lips and shook his head with a frown.

Sally began eating faster, because sitting at the table it was hard to hear what was happening with the story.

"I turned up my nose at them and reached for a piece of toast when my father said, you'll eat what's on your plate, Benjamin, like it or no, we don't waste food in this family. Well, I forced that slimy egg down with a few grimaces, which didn't go unnoticed by my father. After he and I had both finished our breakfasts, he pulled me from my chair and landed two sound thumps to my backside and said, you'll school your face and mind your manners, 'tis impolite to your mother to be acting as you are. Well, I knew better than to argue with him and apologized to my mother."

Sally stood and came over to the where everyone was sitting.

"Did you finish your dinner, Sally?" Ben asked, putting an arm around her waist.

"Yes," she said nodding.

"Good, good, then you go take your plate and glass into the kitchen, I'll wait for you to go on with the story." Ben said, pointing at the table.

Sally hurried over to the table and was back quickly as she walked past Ben, he grasped her around the waist and pulled her into his lap.

"Now," he said adjusting her in his lap and looking down to be sure she was all right sitting in his lap. "My brothers laughed at me for getting in trouble with our father and thought it was hilarious that he had swatted me in front of them. That made me pretty angry not only at them, but also at my father for embarrassing me."

"Is that why you used to take Papa and Uncle Hoss and Uncle Joe out to the barn, Grandpa?"

"Yes, Lizzie, I don't think that punishments should be carried out for everyone to see, it is a private matter between parent and child, but what my father did was just correct my attitude with a few swats. He wasn't punishing me, as much as reminding me about how I should act towards my mother, and I should have been embarrassed about the way I was acting rather than angry with him. But I was angry, so, when I met my friends that morning, I wasn't much in the mood to do as my father wanted."

"Were you naughty?" Sally asked timidly.

"Oh, very naughty." Ben said looking down at her and nodding.

"Did you get in trouble with Great Grandpa?" Lizzie asked.

"Well, you'll just have to listen to the rest of the story and find out. So, James, Robert and I set out on our day," Ben said. "As we walked along trying to figure out what to do first, James mentioned that he had heard that a pirate ship was docked in the harbor."

A pirate ship? Grandpa, how were you going to be able to tell if it was a pirate ship or not? Did you think they'd be flying the black flag with the skeleton on it?"

"Where were you when we needed you, Lizzie? We were not nearly as smart as you are and we were sure we would be able to pick out the ship with just a single glance. The problem was that just like you Lizzie, and now you, Sally, there were limits on how far we were allowed to go from home. We weren't allowed outside the neighborhood and the harbor was not only farther than that, but it was totally off limits."

"But you went anyway," Sally said in a whisper.

"Yes, we went anyway, knowing the if we got caught, our fathers would skin us alive."

"Skin you alive?' Sally asked in a worried voice, sitting up to look at him.

"I mean they would spank us, Sally, skin us alive is just an expression for them punishing us."

"Oh," she said leaning back against his chest.

Ben stifled a small grin thinking about how casually she was taking the chance of him getting spanked and went on with the story.

"So we took all the back alleys and side streets that we could find to get to the harbor. We had to do our best not to be seen because we knew if anyone we knew saw us, they would tell our fathers and we knew what we were doing was pretty risky. Well, we finally got to the harbor and at first we sneeked along being careful about who saw us, but as time went on we got bolder and bolder. We walked along the entire pier, looking at all the ships and trying to pick out which one might be the pirate ship, but as Lizzie said, none of them was flying the Jolly Roger."

"What's the Jolly Roger?" Sally asked, starting to really enjoy the story.

"It's the black flag with the skull and crossbones on it." Ben said is a low, scary voice trying to imitate the voices from Cornwall that he had heard when he was docked there.

"When we got to the end of the dock, we thought maybe we had passed the ship and missed it, so we started back, scanning the ships and looking for one-eyed, peg-legged men."

"Grandpa!" Lizzie laughed.

"Pirates battle with swords, Lizzie, there are bound to be injuries" Ben laughed.

"Well, instead of finding a pirate we found a merchant seamen, who bought us each roll and filled us with stories of the sea. We finally got the courage to ask him about the pirate ship and he disabused us of the notion, telling us that pirates don't usually come into ports like that, that they steal what they need from other boats. But he told us about tropical islands and how beautiful the South Seas were and it was then that I decided that I was going to go to sea. That was when the church clock began to toll four o'clock. We had missed lunch and our fathers were on their way home and we knew there was no chance we were going to get back to our houses before our fathers. The man saw our faces drop with dread and he said, I presume your parents are unaware of where you are right now? We had told him earlier that our fathers were captains of ships currently docked in the harbor."

You lied?" Lizzie said astounded.

"I'm not proud of it, Lizzie, but yes, we did."

"He offered to come back with us to try and smooth things over with our fathers, but we knew bringing home a stranger from the docks who we had spent the day with would only put us into deeper trouble."

"What happened when you got home?" Sally asked intensely.

"Well, I only know that the other boys were spanked by their fathers when they got home, we didn't much discuss it, but when I got home, your great grandfather and your great grandmother were waiting for me," he said turning to Lizzie.

"I stood in the doorway and when my father saw me, he said, your mother tells me you missed lunch today, she's been worried about you and your brothers were unable to locate you, where have you been, son? Well, I had been rehearsing in my head everything I wanted to say about the seaman and the harbor and where I was and why I had gone, but I knew my father would only see that I had disobeyed him and the details didn't really matter. So, I held up my head and said, I went to the docks, Father. The look he gave me had me hanging my head in shame. Benjamin, my mother said. I'm sorry, I whispered. My father stood up without a word and taking my arm, he pulled me up the stairs to the room I shared with my brothers. He ordered them both out and he put me over his knee and spanked me."

"Oh, Grandpa," Lizzie exclaimed.

"Well, he wasn't finished with me yet, so after about ten swats or so, he set me on my feet and said, explain. Well, then it all came out," Ben said throwing his hands up in the air, "the whole day: everything we had seen and heard and the stories and he just sat there and listened. After I had exhausted all my words, he asked, why would you do such a dangerous thing? Son, I have always told you to stay away from the docks because of the kinds of people who are down there. I didn't know what to say to him. I finally told him I wanted to go to sea and lead an adventurous life. He actually smiled when I said that and said, you'll need to reach adulthood to do that sort of adventuring, Ben, and it's my job to see that you do that, which means that I am going to make you very uncomfortable every time you do something as dangerous as you did today and he took off his belt, had me bend over the edge of the bed and he strapped me."

Lizzie hid her eyes against Adam's chest when he said that.

"That's not the end of the story, Lizzie. That strapping hurt and made me cry, but he was fair and I deserved every lick for doing what I had done. The next day, my father took me back to the docks and we found the seaman who had been so kind to us and you'll never guess who he was."

"Who?"

"Abel Morgan Stoddard, your great grandfather," Ben said nodding. "I learned my lesson, though, I didn't go back to the docks unless I was with my father or Abel."

"Your father let you go back to the docks?" Sally asked. "Even after he had punished you for it?

"Yes, Sally he did, he punished me for deliberately doing something I had been told not to do, something dangerous. I knew better, but I did it anyway, that strapping kept me from making the same mistake again."

"Hmm, there are a few of us in this room who know about not doing dangerous things don't we?" Adam said with an arched eyebrow, looking first at Lizzie and then at Sally, who both blushed.

"Yes," Ben chuckled. "Like bringing home a raccoon."

"Papa?" Lizzie inquired.

"No, honey, that was me," said Hoss.

"And jumping out the hayloft," Ben continued.

"That was me," Little Joe said raising his hand and nodding.

"Pa, warned us Little Joe, but you just weren't as wise as I and you didn't listen." Adam said smugly.

"Now, wait just a minute, big brother, you were the one that came up with the idea in the first place." Joe said angrily.

"I didn't tell you to jump out of the hayloft."

"No, but you did say I needed more height."

"What happened Little Joe?" Sally asked.

"Well, Adam here had read somewhere about kites and he thought we might be able to make one that could lift me off the ground and carry me for a ways."

"Just skimming over the surface of the land, not going too high, there wouldn't be enough lift for that," Adam chimed in excitedly.

"Well, it was a really windy day and we had built a framework.."

"I had built a framework," Adam interrupted.

"Adam had built a framework," Joe said rolling his eyes, "with a sheet and he had me jumping off the edge of the corral out there. We had tried a couple of times when Pa came home, bellowing."

"I do not bellow," Ben said smiling. "I was just speaking forcefully to my two sons who were going to be the death of me.

"So, Pa, here" Joe said, motioning at Ben with his thumb, "spoke forcefully and told us we were doing something dangerous and that one of us was going to get hurt and that we were to put the kite away and get busy with chores or he'd tan us both."

"Which I did," Adam said righteously.

"Well, I tried to get busy with chores, but I just kept thinking about what Adam had said about needing to be higher. So I took the framework up to the hayloft and jumped off into a pile of hay, just as Pa came in the door of the barn."

"Oh, no," Lizzie said trying to suppress a giggle.

"Oh, no's right," Joe said indignantly. "He pulled me over to a hay bale and took a seat and said, did you not hear me when I said to put the kite away? Yes, Pa, I answered. Did you not hear me say that I would tan your little hide if you didn't? He bell…said forcefully. Yes, Pa, I said. Then you know what to expect, he said and he turned me over his knee and whaled the tar out of me."

"No more than you deserved," Ben said in a deep voice.

Adam saw Sally's scared look at Joe's last words and said, "Ah, Pa's spankings hurt, but I can't remember a time that I wasn't sitting pretty easy after a couple of hours." Adam said pointedly looking at Sally's bowed head.

Joe picked up the cue and said, "Yeah, that spanking stung, but I hardly needed a pillow by the time dinner time came."

Ben looked up at his two sons and realizing what they were trying to do said, "Well, the point of that kind of discipline is not to make you hurt for a long time, it's to give you a reason to avoid that kind of mischief in the future."

"And it worked beautifully, Pa," Joe said smiling, holding his hands up and speaking with just a hint of sarcasm.

"Yes, it worked for me and the docks and worked for you and flying." Ben said assuredly.

As the clock began to chime, Adam stood up and said, "Bedtime, Lizzie."

"Yes, bedtime, Sally," Ben said standing.

"My mama doesn't make me go to bed this early," Sally whined.

"Perhaps not," Ben said in a deep voice, "but I do."

Sally, remembering the story of what had happened to Little Joe, said, "Yes, Ben, but can I have some cake for a snack before I go to bed?"

"Sally," Ben said. "You have missed your chance for cake, you'll get another chance tomorrow." He took her hand and led her up the stairs followed by Adam and Lizzie.


	36. Bedtime

"All right, let's find your nightgown," Ben said pulling it out of one of the trunks. "Turn around and I'll help you with your buttons." He reached out and taking her shoulder he turned her around and opened the buttons down her back. "Now you head over there and put this on," he said encouragingly, putting the gown in her hands.

Sally did as she was told and came out with her wadded up dress in her hands.

"Here, I'll take that from you," Ben said as he started folding the dress up. "Now you know I'm new at this, so if there's something important I'm forgetting, you'll let me know, right?" He reached over to pick up the brush on the dresser.

"Lizzie likes to have her hair brushed sometimes, do you want me to braid it for you?'

"Yes," Sally said sadly.

"You're missing your mama right now, aren't you?" Ben asked, taking a seat on the bed as he started brushing the tangles out of her hair. "I'll bet she's missing you too, but she'd be glad to know how well you're doing with us." Ben held out the brush. "Put that on your dresser and bring me something I can use to tie off your braid."

Sally came back with a ribbon and Ben used it to finish off the long braid he made down the back of her head.

"What's next?" he asked. "How about we wash your face? We had a long dusty day on the road." Ben said, as he pulled her to the washstand and picked up a cloth. Sally stood there with her face upturned and her eyes closed as he washed her face for her. Ben smiled at how young and innocent she looked, nothing like the difficult child she had been all week.

"What else?" He asked.

"Mama sometimes let's me put on some of her lotion…" Sally suggested.

"All right," Ben stood and finding the bottle, he poured a little bit on her hands and began to massage them. "Now you smell as pretty as your mama," he said. "Now hop into bed." He held up the covers for her to climb under.

Sally stood for a minute continuing to rub the lotion into her hands and then wiping them on her nightgown, she came over and crawled into bed.

"So, do you want a story or do you just want to talk?"

Sally shrugged.

"Let's just talk, then, all right?"

Sally arranged the pillows behind her back and nodded. Ben sat down on the bed next to her and put an arm around the pillows behind her head.

"I know you're missing your mama, are you still feeling bad about what happened this morning?" he asked.

Sally started crying and put her head down.

"Yeah, I know," Ben said, wrapping his arms around her and rocking her back and forth. "But you apologized to your mama and you really are sorry; your mama knows that. So, you know what you need to do now?"

"No," Sally whispered her voice hitching with sobs.

"You forgive yourself and you remember the lesson. Do you know what the lesson is?"

"Don't go in the corral with off limits horses?"

Ben smiled, "Well, that's the particular lesson in this case, but the bigger lesson is that the adults around you are looking out for your best interests and you need to obey them even if you don't agree with or understand why they are telling you what they are."

Ben patted her arm, "Do you remember people telling you to stay away from that horse?"

"Uh, huh."

"Do your remember who?"

"You and Adam," Sally took a deep breath and whispered, "and Lizzie."

"So three people, and you disregarded all of their warnings. So, the next time, you'll listen, right?"

"Yes," Sally said starting to cry again.

"Your mama's going to be okay. She's forgiven you and you're going to work on forgiving yourself and we move on from here. Right, honey? Sometimes learning valuable lessons can be painful, sometimes that pain comes from inside, like you and the guilt you're feeling right now and sometimes it comes from outside, like me and my father's belt."

Sally looked up at him quickly.

"Well, not putting myself in danger was a valuable lesson, the same one that you learned today. I forgave myself for disappointing my parents and scaring my mother, and you," Ben said, putting his finger on her chest, "are going to forgive yourself for your part in your mother getting hurt. Notice I said part, your mama played her part too."

Ben pulled her close for a few minutes and listened as her breathing quieted.

"Now, are you going to be okay in here by yourself? You know where everybody's bedroom is, so if you need anything, even if you just get scared or lonely, any one of us will be happy to help. Don't be afraid to wake one of us up, do you hear?"

"Yes, Ben," Sally said smiling slightly.

"You're a good girl, Sally, and we're all really glad that you're staying with us. Lie down now and close your eyes," he reached out to stroke her head. "Tomorrow we'll go to town and check on your mama, all right?"

Sally nodded and closed her eyes.

Ben left, closing the door softly behind him.

* * *

><p>Adam followed Lizzie into her bedroom and started pulling down the covers on the bed as she went behind the screen to change into her nightgown. He took a seat in the rocking chair and waited. When Lizzie came out from behind the screen he smiled.<p>

"What are you smiling at, Papa?"

"You, sometimes I am just so proud of you I think the buttons are going to pop right off my chest."

Lizzie giggled, "I'd like to see that."

"Well, keep making me proud of you and I suspect you will see it. Come over here."

"You're not still angry with me about how I acted this morning?" Lizzie asked with a blush.

"Hmm, mmm, you turned things around pretty effectively, I'd say. The bullfighting game was just the right thing to do today with Sally. I know it was hard to listen to Sally tell her stories of her afternoon when your afternoon was a little rough," Adam kissed the top of her head, "but you did fine. Let's get you into bed."

Adam patted her leg. "I will read you any story you pick out."

"Jack the Giant Killer!" Lizzie said gleefully.

"Okay, not any story," Adam said, tickling her. "We both need to get some sleep, unless you want to start it tonight and work our way through for the next few nights."

"Papa," Lizzie asked as she climbed into bed, "Did you know Great Grandpa?"

"Yes, I met him when I went back east to study."

"No, I mean Grandpa's papa."

"Oh, no, I never met Grandpa Cartwright."

"He seems really strict."

"I supposed he was, but from the stories your grandpa has told about him, he was a good papa though."

"Was Grandpa strict like that too when you were growing up?"

"Well, he was pretty strict when we were coming west. Of course, that was only with your Uncle Hoss, I was perfectly behaved, never got into trouble, not once," he winked at her. "Nope, I didn't get in trouble for reading instead of doing chores or going on long walks without asking permission, and of course I never talked back." He arched an eyebrow at her and Lizzie laughed. "Then after we moved here and settled on The Ponderosa, Grandpa got less strict with your Uncle Hoss and Uncle Joe, of course, since I remained perfectly behaved. He got to be more like he is now."

"I'm glad you're not strict like Great Grandpa," Lizzie said, staring off into space thinking.

"I don't need to be, honey. First of all, you're a girl and girls are notoriously better behaved the boys. Second, you've never once gone to the docks by yourself, have you?" he asked sternly.

"No, Papa," Lizzie laughed.

"Have you any intentions of going to the docks by yourself?" he asked even more sternly.

"No, Papa," Lizzie laughed out again.

"Promise?"

Promise," Lizzie giggled. "Cross my heart," she said drawing a finger across her chest.

"Good, then you won't be giving me cause to be strict like Great Grandpa Cartwright."

"Will you read to me about Jack now?" Lizzie asked after a few moments.

"Sure," Adam said, standing to get the book.

Adam made his way downstairs to find Ben sitting near the fire.

"Did you get her to bed?"

"Yes, after a few pages of Jack the Giant Killer. I am sometimes surprised that she can sleep after hearing stories like that," Adam laughed.

"She's a brave little girl and she knows we're safe from giants here," Ben smiled.

"She thinks Great Grandpa Cartwright was too strict with you," Adam said taking a seat in his chair.

"That's sweet of her. I disagree, but it's sweet none the less."

"What was your father like, Pa?"

"He was a good father, but distant. That's how fathers were supposed to be at that time. They set a good example, going to work and taking care of the family, giving us a good walloping when we needed it, but the other things were left up to our mothers. He was strict, not too strict, but strict, he was raising boys after all."

Adam laughed, "That's what I told Lizzie. She said she was glad that I wasn't as strict as your father and I told her I didn't need to be since she's a girl."

"That is probably true, at least I hope it is. I know I was tough on you boys, but I hope I can take it easier on Sally, be more like you are Adam."

"Well, thanks, Pa,"

"No, I mean it. You're strict in your own way, but you have a gentler touch than my father did or than I think I did. You are also closer to your daughter than I was to you and your brothers."

"I'm not sure you could have been gentler as we traveled across country. Thing were just too dangerous. You eased off once we were off the road and you had a lighter touch with Joe."

"Too light in your eyes, as I believe you told me a time or two," Ben said smiling.

"You did let him off the hook for things you would never have let me get away with, Pa," Adam accused, "but Joe's a good man, so maybe that was not such a bad thing, unfair, but not bad," Adam laughed.

Ben laughed, "I was tougher on you. The curse of the eldest I suppose. My brothers used to tell me the same thing: how much I got away with compared to them."

"Well, I guess the trade off is that we eldest don't have to share our pas like the ones that come along later do."

Ben got quiet and stared at the fire.

"Thinking about Sally?"

"Yes, she's still pretty upset about what happened this morning, understandably, and I'm not sure how she's going to do up there in her room all by herself. I told her to come and get any one of us if she needed to."

"We'll get her through this, Pa. You were pretty strict when we were growing up, but I can't remember a time when you weren't also pretty good at chasing away the fears and upsets that your children faced. I think Sally is going to be just fine. And as far as you being a distant father, I've got not complaints in that area."


	37. The Dress

Hoss climbed slowly from his bed and rubbed his stomach. It growled in response, which it had done earlier and awakened him out of a sound sleep. He smacked his lips and headed out into the hallway remembering the chicken they had had for dinner that night. As he walked past Sally's room, he thought he heard a sniffle. He stopped, holding his breath and heard it again. Slowly he opened the door to Sally's room.

"You all right in there little gal?" He whispered.

"Yes," came the tearful reply.

Hoss came into her room and sat down on the bed next to her, pulling her into the crook of his arm.

"Glad you're all right, I sometimes have trouble sleeping alone, so I'm glad you were awake I needed the company."

"Really?"

"Yeah, when we were coming across country in our wagon, I never slept alone," Hoss said conveniently leaving out that he was still a baby. "I slept with Adam and Pa in the back of that wagon, then of course when we moved out to the Ponderosa, Adam and me shared a room until the house was built."

"What was it like in the wagon?"

"Hot and dusty and long. Do remember how it was on the stage coach when you came here?"

"Yes," Sally said nestling down into the crook of his arm.

"Well, it was just like that, only it went on for six months instead of a few days."

Hoss kept talking and before long they were both asleep: Hoss sitting up, snoring, and Sally nestled into the crook of his arm.

* * *

><p>"Hoss, Hoss!" Ben whispered. "Son, it's time to get up."<p>

Hoss stirred and opened his eyes to see his father gently shaking his arm. "Time to get up, son." He said again.

Hoss worked himself out from under Sally, stood and stretched, trying to work the kinks out of his back.

"I musta fallen asleep in here," Hoss said, putting his hands on his back.

"I would say," Ben replied. "How did you end up in here?"

"Well, Pa, I got up to have some of Hop Sing's chicken and I heard Sally crying so I came in here and told her about the trip west and I guess we both fell asleep."

"You told her about the trip west?" Ben laughed.

"Well, I have heard your and Adam's stories enough times. I jest left out the part about being a baby during them."

Ben clapped him on the arm, "Well, I am glad that Sally had you taking care of her last night. Now, I need to get her up and ready for the day." Ben clapped him on the arm again. Hoss made his way back to his room as Ben began to rub Sally's arm to wake her.

"Sally, time to get up and get dressed." Ben said quietly.

Sally slowly opened her eyes and crawled out of bed.

"How did you sleep?" Ben asked jovially.

"Fine," Sally said in a grumpy voice.

"Since you're going to see your mother today, which dress do you want to wear?"

"The purple one," Sally said, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

Ben walked over to the trunk and pulled out the first purple dress he saw.

"That's not purple," Sally scolded, "that's lavender."

"Oh, sorry, why don't you come and find it then," Ben said, with a small smile.

Sally sighed and walked over to the trunk and pulled out a lacy dress.

"Pretty fancy," Ben said conversationally.

"So?" Sally said rudely.

"And it has a stain on it," Ben said in a gruff tone pointing at the brown stain on the collar.

"But I want to wear it," Sally whined.

"Well, we won't be able to get it clean in time for you to wear it to town today; I'll give it to Hop Sing and he can wash it when he does the rest of the laundry."

"Can't he do it now?" Sally demanded.

"No, washing clothes takes time. You'll choose another dress."

"No, I want to wear the purple one." Sally said defiantly.

"Choose another or you won't be going to town," Ben said and left the room, just catching himself before he slammed the door.

He stalked past Adam as he was coming out of his bedroom.

"Pa?" Adam asked, trying to figure out why his father was angry.

"That child can go from sweet to disobedient in the blink of an eye," Ben said in an exasperated voice, pointing back at the bedroom he had just left.

"Do you want me to go in and deal with her?'

"No, she's my responsibility," Ben growled. "I said I would watch over her and watch over her I shall." Ben turned on his heel and headed back towards Sally's room.

"Pa, don't you think you might like to take a moment to calm down?"

"I am calm," Ben retorted, but he took a deep breath before opening the door.

Sally had put on the purple dress and was struggling to get the buttons fastened down the back when Ben came back into the room.

"Shall I assume from the fact that you are wearing the stained dress that you are not going to town to see your mother today?" Ben said in an overly calm voice.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, young lady, that I told you to choose a different dress or you wouldn't be going to town. Since you are wearing the purple dress I can only conclude that you have chosen not to go to town."

"You can't keep me from seeing my mama," she shouted.

"I am not keeping you from seeing your mama, young lady, you are doing that by deliberately putting on the dress I told you you were not to wear." Ben said loudly in return.

Sally, scowled, folded her arms, and put her chin to her chest.

"Now you listen, and you listen real well, if you throw a tantrum, you will be spanked and that is a promise. Now change your dress." Ben once again left the room and closed the door softly behind him and proceeded down the stairs.

Hoss had been listening to the exchange through the wall and after his father had left, he went to Sally's room and entered without knocking. He glanced at Sally, who still had her arms crossed and her chin to her chest. He walked over to the trunk and pulled out a green calico dress. He took Sally's arm and led her to the bed where he took a seat and started unfastening the buttons Sally had managed to reach.

"Now, you know, my Pa's real stubborn and when he says you won't go to town, you won't go to town," Hoss unfolded her arms and pulled the purple dress off. "And when he starts saying things like "that's a promise", it means he is about at the end of his patience and you really don't want to see him when he is out of patience. So, I think you should put on this really pretty green dress and make plans to wear that purple one after Hop Sing washes it." He held out the green dress to her. Sally reluctantly put her arms into the dress. "That's a good girl," Hoss said, as he turned her around and began fastening the buttons. "Better to go see your mama, even if it isn't in the purple dress. Now, you go and get your brush and comb and go to Adam's room. He's the only one of us that knows how to fix the hair of a pretty girl like you, all right?"

Sally nodded even though she still wasn't happy and snatched the comb, brush and ribbons off the dresser before stomping over to Adam's room. Finding the door open she stomped inside.

"Well, what's got you stomping around like a herd of elephants?" Adam asked mildly, looking up from his seat on the bed, where he was pulling on his boots.

"I wanted to wear the purple dress, not this ugly green one."

"Ah," Adam nodded, "and why are you in this ugly green one?"

"Because Ben told me I couldn't wear the purple one."

"He must have had a reason, what is it?"

Sally looked at him with a scowl and said, "Will you fix my hair for me?"

"I'd be glad to," Adam said with a smile, "as soon as you answer my question and ask me to fix your hair the polite way that I expect."

I'll do it myself," Sally turned to stomp out of the room, but Adam leaped up and closed the door.

"Yes, that was very successful the last time you tried, wasn't it?"

Adam took the brush and comb from her and sat down on the bed pulling her between his knees and keeping an arm around her waist.

"Tell me why you're so angry," he commanded.

Sally looked up to give a quick retort, but seeing the serious look on Adam's face, she said, "I wanted to wear the purple dress."

"We've established that. Pa said no, so he must have had a good reason. What was it?"

"It had a dirty collar," Sally finally ground out after a long silence.

"So, he wanted you to look pretty and clean for your mother when you visited her and you wanted to look dirty and unkempt…" Adam left the sentence dangling.

"No," Sally said after a moment, looking up at him quickly. Adam could see the light starting to dawn.

"Then how exactly were you planning on getting the dirty dress clean?"

"Hop Sing…"

Adam sighed, "Sally, even it Hop Sing had agreed to clean your dress for you, laundry takes time. Water needs to be boiled and then the dress would need to be washed and dried, none of that could have been accomplished in time for you to go to town. Pa thought it was more important that you see your mother today than that you wear the dress you wanted. Do you understand?"

Sally hung her head and nodded.

"Good, then ask me properly to braid your hair and we'll get you down to the breakfast table where you'll apologize to Pa for giving him a hard time about the dress, all right?" He held out the brush and comb to her.

"Adam will you please braid my hair for me?" Sally asked softly.

"Of course, honey," Adam said as he took her shoulder and turned her around with his left hand and put the brush and comb down on the bed with the his right. Sally sighed and stood still, while he gave her two braids.

"All finished, put those back in your room and I'll meet you at the breakfast table. You need to apologize first thing when you get downstairs, " he said, standing as he handed the brush and comb back to her.

"Thank you," she said taking them from him and walked across the hallway to her room.

Adam checked for Lizzie in her room and proceeded downstairs when he found it empty.

Lizzie was sitting in her grandpa's lap, telling him about one of her dreams when Adam came downstairs. He sat down in his chair and listened to the tail end of the story.

"That was some dream, Lizzie," Ben said in wonder. "I wish I could dream those sorts of dreams."

Hop Sing came out of the kitchen calling them all to breakfast and Lizzie jumped down from Ben's lap.

"Sally will be down in a minute, Pa," Adam said as they made their way to the table.

Adam held out Lizzie's chair for her and said, "My lady."

"Thank you kind, sir," she said as she sat down and Adam pushed her in.

Adam glanced up as he took his seat and watched Sally slowly making her way downstairs.

"Come on, Sally," Ben said in a bit of an irritated voice. "Breakfast is getting cold."

Little Joe jumped up to pull out Sally's chair, but she walked past him and stood at Ben's right arm. She looked over at Adam, who nodded at her, before she turned back to Ben, who was looking at her questioningly and said, "Ben, I'm sorry I gave you a hard time about the dress this morning. Will you forgive me?"

"Of course, Sally, of course I forgive you," he said sincerely, smiled and reached out to stroke her hair. "Now, why don't you take a seat? Little Joe is being a gentleman and holding your chair for you."

"Thanks, Little Joe," Sally said as she took her seat. She glanced over to see Adam smiling and nodding at her.

"You're welcome," Joe said and glanced around the table with a smile.

They began filling their plates and Adam said, "So, Lizzie, your uncles, the ranch hands and I are going to be branding cattle today, can we count on you for some help?"

"Sure, Papa," Lizzie said with a huge smile.

"I'm glad you will, things always go more smoothly when you're there to help."

Lizzie smiled at her plate as she cut into her pancakes.

"And Sally and I will be going to town to check on her mama," Ben said.

"Give Ruth our best, Pa." Adam said.

"Yeah, Sally, you tell her we hope she's feeling better real soon," added Hoss.

"We can do that, can't we Sally?" Ben said with a nod.


	38. Roadblocks

After breakfast, Ben led Sally out to the barn where he began saddling his horse.

"We'll go to town and see your mother first thing, Sally, and then I have a few business errands to run, perhaps we can go and see what's new at the General Merchandise. How does that sound?"

"All right," Sally said, swinging her feet.

Ben finished saddling the horse and taking Sally's hand he led her and the horse out of the barn.

"Let's get you up here," Ben said, grabbing her under her arms.

"My dress is going to wrinkle," Sally said struggling and kicking her feet.

"Oh, that won't matter to your mama, she'll just be happy to see you," Ben said jovially, trying to keep his temper in check.

"Can't we go in the buggy?"

"The buggy will take longer to get to town. It will be much faster to go on Buck, now come on, up you go."

"That's all right," Sally said, but she didn't struggle, as Ben put her in the saddle.

Ben narrowed his eyes for a moment, before he reached up and took Sally back out of the saddle. He put her on her feet, then took her hand and led her over to the porch. He sat down on one of the chairs and pulled her into his lap.

"Don't you want to go to town, Sally? I'm sure your mother will be happy to see you." Ben said reassuringly.

"Yes, I want to see my mama," Sally said looking down.

"Then why all the roadblocks today?"

"Roadblocks?" Sally asked, still looking at her hands.

Ben put her on her feet and turned her around to face him. He took her chin in his hand and gently tipped her face up before saying, "Yes, roadblocks. You wanted Hop Sing to wash your purple dress, which would have taken time. You ate your breakfast very slowly; despite the fact that I kept encouraging you to eat and now you want to take time for me to harness the horses to the buggy when getting to town on Buck will be much faster. Those are all roadblocks to our getting to town, now why do you think you're putting up all those roadblocks?"

"Dunno," Sally said softly.

"Well, let's see if we can figure it out, shall we?"

Sally shrugged.

Letting go of Sally's chin, Ben asked, "Do you really want to go and see your mother?"

"Yes," Sally said nodding.

"Are you scared of something? How she's going to be? Or what she's going to look like?"

"No…" Sally said hesitantly.

"Sally, honey, you need to tell me the absolute truth, I won't be angry or upset at you, what are you afraid of?"

"Dunno," Sally said turning away from him.

Ben stared at Sally's back for a few moments and decided to take a different tack.

"You do know, Sally, and telling me that you don't is a lie. I will not tolerate being lied to," Ben said in a commanding voice. Softening his voice he said, "We are going to town, Sally, and I want you to tell me the truth about what the trouble is."

He reached out and turned her around, putting his hands on her shoulders, he said, "Listen, sometimes the hardest things are easier if you just do them quickly. Do you think you can just say it? I'll count to three and you can just blurt it out and not worry about how it sounds," he said as he looked into her eyes and nodded. "Ready? On the count of three: one, two, three…" Ben used to use this tactic with Little Joe when he was a boy and he needed to say something, but couldn't quite work up the courage to say it. Joe called it a running start and Ben hoped it might work with Sally.

"Grandpa hates me because of me getting Mama hurt," she screamed, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Oh, Sally, you did really good telling me that," he took her in his arms and rubbed his hand on her back. Ben fought with himself as to what he should do next. The most overwhelming emotion he was feeling right then was anger at Joshua for his selfishness. He thought punching the man in the face would give him quite a bit of satisfaction. His attention was almost immediately drawn back to the sobbing girl in his arms. He sighed and tried to come up with some words of comfort that would ring true with her.

"You're grandpa doesn't hate you," Ben started. "It was an accident and both he and your mama know that."

"No, no, no," Sally cried.

"Now you listen to me," Ben said firmly, pushing her back so that he could look her in the eyes. "I told you I don't abide lying, not even in myself. I'm not lying. Your grandpa doesn't hate you. Do you hear me? Now, we are going to go to town and you are going to see your mama and we'll work this out, all right?"

Sally nodded sadly.

"All right?" Ben asked again, firmly, but with the slightest of smiles on his face.

Sally nodded as she said, "Yes."

"Yes?" Ben asked, raising her eyebrows and using his thumbs to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

"Yes, Ben," Sally said with a slight smile.

"Good girl, now let's get up on Buck," Ben stroked her hair, stood up and guided her to the horse and put her in the saddle.

It was a long, quiet ride into town. Ben's emotions flickered between anger at Joshua and sympathy for Sally. When they arrived in town, Ben lifted Sally down from the saddle and led her to the watering trough and dampened his handkerchief with water from the pump. He wiped that tear stains from her face and standing back, he put his hands on his hips and said, "All right, you look very pretty, are you ready?"

Sally nodded. Ben nodded back, as he turned to head towards the hotel, he felt Sally put her hand in his and he gave it a squeeze as they walked across the street hand in hand. They stopped at the registrar to find out which room Ruth was in and walked up the stairs to room 14. Ben smiled warmly at Sally, who was fidgeting nervously next to him, and stroked her hair before knocking on the door. The door was answered by Dr. Fellows, who stood back and gestured for them to come in.

"Sally!" Ruth said happily, she sat up quickly and held out her arms.

"Ruth," Dr. Fellows said, rushing forward to grab a washbasin "don't move too quickly."

Just as the words came out, Ruth's hand flew to her mouth, and she began to vomit quietly into the washbasin that Dr. Fellows pushed under her chin. Ben, who was a veteran of sympathetic vomiting in children, grabbed a bowl from the bedside table and pushed it under Sally's mouth just as her breakfast began to come up. He stroked her back and whispered consoling words. Dr. Fellows eased Ruth back down when her vomiting had stopped and poured two glasses of water: one for Ruth and one for Sally. He also soaked two cloths in water and handed a glass and a cloth to Ben before starting to bathe Ruth's face. Ben crouched down and did the same for Sally before handing her the glass of water.

"Your mama can't sit up, Sally, take a sip of water and then go say hello to her," Ben said, not mentioning what had just happened. Sally obediently took a sip from the glass and then handed it to Ben before making her way to the bed.

"I've missed you so much, Sally. Are you okay out at The Ponderosa?" She reached out to stroke Sally's hair.

John Fellows set Ruth's glass on the bedside table and took the bowl from Ben's hand. "I'll take care of these and be right back," he said.

Ben eased into the chair in the corner and watched Ruth and Sally catch up.

Dr. Fellows returned shortly with the clean bowl, the washbasin and Joshua. Ben watched Sally stiffen when Joshua came in the room and he stood, laying a hand on Joshua's arm. "If I might see you a moment, Joshua?"

Joshua frowned but followed Ben out to the corridor and downstairs to the almost empty saloon next door.

"Two beers, Charlie," Ben said waving two fingers in the air and moving toward a table as far away from the other patrons as he could find.

"Is something wrong, Ben?" Joshua asked as Charlie brought the beers to their table.

"Thanks, Charlie," Ben said handing him a coin. Take a drink, Joshua. I have something unpleasant to tell you."

Joshua took a drink and sat back in his chair, "Well?" he said.

"Joshua, you and I have been friends for a long time. We've had our arguments and disagreements about things just as all friends do, but I don't believe I have ever been as angry with you as I am at this very moment."

"Ben, what's happened? What's got your ire up?"

"Sally," Ben started, but before he got farther than that one word, Joshua slapped his hands on the table.

"I knew it, she can't even make it one night without misbehaving…" Joshua said angrily, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Now wait a minute, friend," Ben said standing, and putting his hands on the table, "I want to talk to you about your misbehavior, not Sally's"

"My misbehavior?" Joshua growled, standing up.

"Yes, yours," Ben said in a deep voice, pointing his finger at Joshua's chest. "You are a selfish, thoughtless man who doesn't give one moment of consideration to how his behavior affects his daughter and more importantly his granddaughter."

"And what behavior, precisely, is that?" Joshua shouted, putting his hands on the table and leaning into Ben's face.

"Now gentleman, " Charlie said coming over to the table, "if this is going to turn ugly, I suggest you take it outside."

Ben glanced at Charlie and threw himself back into the chair, "No, Charlie," Ben said taking a drink of his beer, "it isn't going to turn ugly."

Joshua shoved back his chair and started to leave before turning and sitting back down in his chair.

"You obviously have something to say to me, Ben, go ahead and say it, so I can get back to my daughter," he waved his hand in the air, gesturing for Ben to continue.

"That, right there, is the problem, Joshua. You have a daughter and a granddaughter to get back to, or did you not notice Sally was in the room."

"Of course I did, Ben, but Sally is not the one who has been injured," Joshua said angrily.

"Not physically," Ben said dismissively.

"Will you get to the point already, I am not getting any younger and I am growing tired of this."

"Fine, Joshua, Sally has come to the conclusion that you hate her."

"What?" Joshua asked incredulously.

"Your selfishness and your thoughtlessness towards her has led her to that conclusion and I can't say I blame her."

"You, what?" Joshua sputtered.

"I can't say I blame her, Joshua," Ben enunciated clearly. "Sally has been beating herself up about the horse incident and her mother's injury since it happened and your dismissive attitude towards her when you were taking Ruth to town added fuel to the fire."

"She shouldn't have gone into that corral," Joshua growled.

"I agree, but she is eight, and she is going to do all kinds of things she isn't supposed to. That's what children do! Why do you think children are given parents if they are never going to do something they shouldn't? God put a child in your life and you have selfishly shirked your responsibility and because of that she feels you don't love her."

"Now, wait just a minute, Ben," Joshua yelled, standing up again. "I do love that child, I just don't want to have to raise a child at my age." Joshua sat down with a thump as he realized the words that had just come out of his mouth. "I'm too selfish," he whispered, guilt washing over him.

"Drink up, Joshua. You have eight years of selfishness to make up to your granddaughter," Ben said raising his beer in a toast like motion.

"How?" he asked, picking up his beer, but not taking a drink.

"You start with forgiving her for going into the corral, really forgiving her. She needs to know that you love her as much as you do Ruth and you keep telling her you forgive her until she believes you. Then you take that guilt you're feeling right now and see if you can't change it into enough sorrow to let go of the selfishness and be that child's grandfather."

"Now, friend," Ben said, coming around the table and slapping his hand on Joshua's back, "let's get back to the hotel.

* * *

><p>After Ben and Joshua left, Dr. Fellows seated himself at the foot of the bed and began massaging Ruth's feet with witch hazel.<p>

"What are you doing, John?" Ruth asked when Sally finally ran out of words to tell her mother everything that had happened since they had last seen each other.

"Chinese medicine, massaging certain places on your feet is supposed to help the nausea. Is it working?" He asked with a smile.

Ruth giggled, "I don't feel nauseous, but I haven't tried to sit up."

"Well, don't," he laughed. "I just got everything cleaned up from the last time you tried to go vertical. Come over here, Sally. Do you want me to show you how to give your mama a foot massage?"

"Ewww," Sally said, screwing up her face.

"Ah, be brave, it's not that bad and you want to make your mama feel good, don't you?" John smiled. "Come on little lady, I need your help." He stood slightly, reached out a hand, took her wrist and pulled her gently to the foot of the bed.

"Hold out your hands," he said, and put some witch hazel on her hands when she held them out. "It smells good, doesn't it? You work on that foot and take care of this one, all right?"

Sally watched what he was doing and tried to copy his motions, the frown on her face gradually changing to one of concentration.

"You're going a good job, if your mama was a cat, she'd be purring," he teased.

Sally giggled and glanced up at her mama. Seeing the smile on her mama's face, she grinned quickly at Dr. Fellows and went back to massaging her mama's foot.

"Are you sure you haven't done this before today?" Dr. Fellows asked, nudging her with his elbow.

"No," Sally said seriously.

"Well, you're a natural," he complimented her with a smile.

She graced him with a big smile, which faded quickly as Ben and Joshua came in the door.


	39. Guilt

"Sally, come here, I want to talk to you," Joshua said.

"I'm massaging Mama's foot right now," Sally said, not looking up at him.

"Sally, please come here," Joshua repeated softly.

Sally didn't answer and kept massaging her mother's foot. The only sound in the room for many long moments was the ticking of the clock. When the silence became unbearable, Dr. Fellows leaned over and whispered in Sally's ear, "I can take care of both of your mama's feet until you come back, you need to mind your grandpa right now…all right?"

Sally looked up at her grandpa for a moment and then back to Dr. Fellows.

"Go on, Sally, your mama's foot will be right here waiting for you when you get back," he reached over to still her hands. "I promise." He gave her an encouraging smile.

Sally reluctantly stood up and walked towards Joshua. She stopped about four feet from him and looked up at him sadly.

"Sally, I'm sorry I was distracted yesterday when I took your mother to town. I wasn't very nice and I'm sorry," Joshua started feebly.

Ben scrubbed his hand over his face, crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. He resisted the strong urge to step in that he was feeling. Sink or swim he thought, he's going to have learn how to do this on his own. He couldn't quite keep the quiet growl back though and Joshua heard it. He gave Ben a quick glance and tried again.

Joshua crouched down and reached out for Sally's hand. When she saw his hand coming she crossed her arms and stepped back, a flicker of fear crossing her features.

"Sally," Ruth called, starting to sit up.

"Ruth, don't get up," John said, standing quickly and putting an arm around her shoulders he gently pulled her back onto the pillows. "I don't know what the problem is between them, but they need to work it out themselves." Ruth never took her eyes from her father and daughter, but she allowed John to push her back onto the bed. "I know you want to make it right, but I don't think you can," he whispered, he held her hand and laced his fingers through hers, sitting carefully on the bed next to her.

Sally glanced over her shoulder at her mother, but her attention returned quickly to her grandpa who was down on one knee in front of her.

Seeing the fear flicker across his granddaughter's face made him feel like he had been slapped. His mind raced through all the things that Ben and Adam had been trying to tell him over the last almost two weeks. He thought about all the fear and disappointment he had heaped on Sally and the guilt threatened to overwhelm him. Joshua's gaze flickered from Dr. Fellows to Ruth to Ben. They sat quietly watching the scene play out before them and he knew none of them was going to step up and get him out of this situation. He had been selfish and harsh with Sally and it was up to him to try to repair the damage that he had done. Joshua found the feelings washing over him and as they crashed down, he did something her would never have done only eleven short days ago: he held out his arms wide, inviting her into them and he apologized.

"Sally, I am so sorry that I've made you afraid of me. I was too harsh and I was unfair and I don't want you to feel afraid of me, ever. If you can't forgive me, I would understand. I love you, Sally, and I want us to start over. Please, Sally, please forgive me."

Sally eyes flickered away to Ben who was nodding encouragingly, willing her to step across that five-foot gap that might just as well have been a five-mile chasm between them. She looked back at her waiting grandfather. Ben had told her that her grandpa didn't hate her; even Adam had told her that she didn't need to be afraid of her grandpa if she behaved better. She remembered both Adam, Ben, and even Hoss had told her she was a good girl, maybe her grandpa really meant what he was saying. She looked up again at Ben nodding at her and because she trusted Ben, she stepped into the open arms of Joshua.

"Thank you, honey," Joshua whispered into her ear. Sally wasn't really sure what to do in her grandpa's arms. Her mother had hugged her, but the only experiences she had had really being hugged by men was with Adam and Ben. She kept her arms by her side as Joshua just kept saying over and over, "I'm sorry."

Ben blew out the breath he had been holding, stepped forward and trying to ease the tension a bit, he said, "Well, Sally, I have some errands to run, why don't you stay here with your mother and grandpa and I'll come pick you up when it's time to go back to The Ponderosa."

"Mr. Cartwright, I think Ruth has had enough stimulation for the day; she needs to rest," Dr. Fellows said, standing up, but keeping Ruth's hand clasped in his.

"Please, John, can't Sally stay a bit longer?" Ruth asked.

"Ruth, you want to get out of this bed as quickly as possible, don't you?" Releasing her hand he stroked the side of her face. "You need to get as much peace and quiet as you can get to heal. Sally come say good-bye to your Mama."

Sally stepped out of her grandpa's arms and went over to the bed.

"I love you lots, Mama," she said, hugging her mother as best she could from the side of the bed. "I'm glad you're getting better."

"I love you lots right back, Sally," Ruth replied. "I'll see you very soon."

Dr. Fellows began walking towards Ben, Joshua and Sally motioning them out. "Mr. Brown, I can stay with Ruth for about a half hour more, if you'd like to spend some time with your granddaughter. Perhaps we can discuss it in the hall. Ruth," he called over his shoulder, "close your eyes and try to rest, I'll be back in just a few minutes."

They all stepped out into the hallway and Joshua said, "Sally, would you like to go to the restaurant with me and see if there is any of that chocolate cake to be had?"

"Ben said he would take me to the General Merchandise to see what was new there," Sally said, looking everywhere but at her grandfather.

"Oh, Sally, we can go later. I'll run my errands and you can go with your grandpa. We can check out the store after you've had come cake. You don't want to miss out on that chocolate cake do you?" Ben said jovially.

"Or we can skip the cake and go to the store instead…" Joshua offered.

"No, that's all right, Mama needs you to take care of her," Sally said, stepping next to Ben and taking his hand.

Joshua was slightly taken aback by Sally's actions, but he didn't want to force her into doing something she clearly didn't want to do; he reached out to stroke her hair, but when she took a step behind Ben's leg, he dropped the hand and sighed. Joshua stepped over to the door and put his hand on the knob, "All right, Sally, I guess I'll see you the next time you come into town. I love you."

"Yes Grandpa," Sally said.

Ben and Sally turned to go and Dr. Fellows and Joshua went back into the hotel room.

Ben heaved a deep sigh and then led Sally down the stairs and out onto the board walk.

"All right," he said. "Let's get busy. First stop is the bank." Ben cast a worried eye at Sally and led her over to the door of the bank. Sally went with Ben to each stop and quietly waited for him to finish. He worried that she seemed withdrawn, that he couldn't engage her in conversation. It was with relief that Ben led Sally into the General Merchandise.

"Jim," Ben called as they walked in the door, "look who I brought to visit."

Jim Mason stepped out from behind one of the display cases and said, "Sally, so good to see you, what are you doing in town?"

"We were in town to visit Sally's mama," Ben said.

"She got hurt by a horse," Sally said quietly.

"Oh, was she thrown?"

"She got hurt cause I wanted to feed the palomino," Sally said on the verge of tears.

"Sally was in feeding the palomino, when her mother saw her and jumped in the corral with them, the horse pushed her into the corral railing trying to get away. She's over at the hotel so that the doctor can keep an eye on her. She's going to be fine," Ben explained and he patted Sally on the back.

"It must make your feel really good to know that your mama loves you so much," Mr. Mason said, leaning against the front counter and crossing his arms.

"Huh?' Sally asked looking up at him. Ben also shot him a quick glance wondering where he was going with that statement.

"Didn't she jump in the corral to keep you from getting hurt?"

"Yes, but I wasn't supposed to have gone in the corral in the first place."

'I'll bet your mama never even thought about that. She loves you and she didn't want you to get hurt and I suspect she thinks you are worth her getting hurt. You didn't mean for her to get hurt did you?"

"No, but…"

Mr. Mason crouched down. "See this scar?" He held out his left hand and traced the scar running down the back of it. I got it when I was about your age."

Sally stepped forward to touch it, "How?"

"Well, I decided that I wanted to go ice skating. The ice was just beginning to thaw and my ma and pa had told me that ice skating was over for the season, but I wanted just one more time out on the lake and I figured I'd have the lake all to myself. I was right and I was having the best time, until I fell in."

"Oh!" Sally said pulling her hand away from the scar.

"I clawed at the ice and managed to force my arm under a large tree limb that had frozen into the ice and I waited. That's how I got the scar: pushing my hand under that limb. I hung there, hoping that the tree limb would keep me from going under. My legs were starting to go numb when I saw my brother lying on the ice and moving slowly towards me. He had taken off his belt and made a lasso around it. When he got close enough, he told me to hold up my hand so that he could get the belt around it."

"Were you scared?"

"Very scared, but I trusted my brother, so when he finally managed to lasso my arm and he told me to start kicking and push against the tree limb, I did just that. He pulled and finally got me out of the water and on to the ice. He dragged me to the shore, threw his arms around me and hugged me, before he picked me up and carried me home."

"Were you in trouble with your parents?"

"Quite a bit actually, my mother was so worried when she saw me, but once she got my wet clothes off, dried me off and warmed me up with hot tea, she was quite simply furious with me. My father came in later and gave me what for and I remember my brother sat in a chair near the fire with a blanket wrapped around him and just grinned."

"Did your ma and pa punish you?"

"No, I think they were just so relieved that I was all right. I also think that they knew that the fear that I had gone through before my brother got to me was gonna make me listen to them when they warned me about things in the future and it did. They scolded me up one side and down the other, though. My ma alternated between scolding me and hugging me for the rest of the day." Mr. Mason laughed. "My brother still has a huge scar on his arm where a tree branch caught him when he was running down the hill to the pond."

"That night I stayed awake in bed waiting for my brother to come into our room and when he finally did, I said, Thanks for saving me. I'm sorry about your arm."

He traced the scar on his hand and smiled. "He told me not to worry about it, that that's what big brothers are for. 'Sides, he said, I had to save you; I need a little brother to boss around."

Mr. Mason laughed. "His arm healed, my hand healed and I learned that my brother loved me enough to risk his life for me, which I guess I already knew."

Mr. Mason reached out and put his hand on Sally's shoulder, "The point of my story, Sally, is that I had intended to go for one last skate and be on my way home. I hadn't intended to fall through the ice and have to be saved by my brother. That's just the way things worked out. My brother and I are closer because of it. You just intended to go feed a horse, that's not the way it ended up, but you're all right, your mother's going to be all right and she had to save you, right? She needs a daughter to boss around."

"But if I hadn't gone into the corral in the first place…" Sally started.

"Then your mother wouldn't be hurt," Mr. Mason finished the sentence. "But she is, so what now? Are you sorry?"

"Yes."

"Did you apologize?"

"Yes."

"Is your mama still angry with you?"

"She never did get angry, she…" Sally stopped and thought a long minute.

"She what, Sally?" Mr. Mason reached out and tipped her face up to look at him.

"She's just glad I'm all right."

"Sounds like my brother, my parents were angry with me, but my brother, he wasn't angry, just relieved I was all right."

Sally smiled when she felt the guilt lift.

"When you know better, you do better, now come on. I got some new toy horses in that I think you'll really like." He put his arm around Sally's shoulders and led her over to the display. Ben joined them and slapped Jim on the shoulder.


	40. Branding

**I decided you all were right about Adam, he wouldn't have punched Wayne Green, so I have rewritten and the story is stronger for your critiques (thank you and to those of you who were glad he got punched, well, he'll get his in spades, so stay tuned!)**

Adam loaded the wagon with the supplies they needed for the day and Lizzie climbed up next to him as they rode out to where the calves would be branded.

"Do you remember what you're supposed to do, Lizzie?" Adam asked.

"Yes, Papa…" Lizzie said with a sigh, biting her tongue to keep from saying I know and rolling her eyes.

Adam smiled, "I know you're an old hand at this, but it's the crew boss's job to be sure everybody knows what their job is. I'll ask the men the same question, actually, unlike you, I'll tell the men what they'll be doing." He bumped her with his arm. "So, Miss Cartwright, do you know what you're responsible for today?" He nudged her again with his arm and smiled bigger. He watched her stroking the Apache Tear through her shirt and bumped up against her again.

Finally she giggled and said, "Yes, crew boss, I know what I'm responsible for today."

"And what precisely are those responsibilities?"

"Keep the fires hot and the branding irons in the fires. Make sure everybody has water, be ready to run and fetch things and do whatever else people ask me to do."

"Good girl, and what's the most important thing to remember?"

Lizzie looked down and thought, "Stay back when the cattle are being handled and wait to be called."

"When we're working with the cattle we aren't going to be watching you, so you'll need to stay out of the way. I know you can do that or I wouldn't be bringing you to work."

Yes, Papa," Lizzie sighed.

Adam threw her another grin and bumped up against her again.

They arrived at the work site where the crew had begun to get ready for branding. They had the fires started and the cows and their calves had been driven into a holding pen. As Adam and Lizzie pulled up, the men gathered in a circle around them.

"Wayne, good to see you here," Adam said turning to the man his father had hired early the day before. He assigned the jobs to each of the men and those responsible for rounding up the calves mounted their horses. Lizzie moved over to the fires, she gave them each a stir, rotated the irons that were already heating in them, and found a rock to sit on until someone called her.

"What's the kid doing here?" Wayne Green asked one of the other hands.

"Oh, that's Lizzie, she's Mr. Cartwright's daughter and she is actually pretty helpful most of the time," said Russ Walker, one of the more experienced hands on The Ponderosa.

"Sheesh, what kind of a penny ante place is this, bringing a kid to help out with branding?"

"I wouldn't let anybody hear you say that if you want to keep your job," Russ said.

Unfortunately, Wayne didn't heed the warning. He was irritated that Lizzie was there and it seemed that no matter where she was, she was in Wayne's way.

The first time Lizzie was called to get a branding iron, he put himself in her path and said, "Watch it kid."

"Sorry," Lizzie replied and stepped around him. She grabbed the branding iron from the man holding it out to her and took the long way around to avoid him.

Lizzie put the iron in the fire and ran to the wagon to get a rope when one of the men who was roping the cattle called over that the one he had was fraying. She carried it out to him and as she was coming back, Wayne stood up, and letting go of the calf's feet he was holding, he took a couple of steps over and grabbed Lizzie's shoulders moving her over a few feet and said, "Watch where you're going, you need to keep this path clear."

Lizzie frowned at him and pulled the Apache tear from under her shirt and headed back to the fire.

Adam watched for a moment and frowned. Lizzie was handling the problem of Wayne pretty well and he wanted her to have a chance to practice standing up for herself and not losing her temper, so he decided to let it go a bit, but he wasn't going to tolerate it for much longer.

Wayne had started with just telling her she was in the way, and then progressed to physically moving her, by grabbing her shoulders and pushing her over a few steps, but when Bill called her over to get a used branding iron, Wayne pushed her back causing her to stumble. "Watch out kid, that calf's gonna kick you."

Adam walked over and helping Lizzie to her feet he said, "Green, I think that you have forgotten for whom you are working. This kid, as you have been calling her all morning, is a Cartwright and when you work on The Ponderosa, you work for her. I think she would agree that your services are no longer required."

He pulled a roll of cash from his pocket and said, "Here's your morning's wages, now head out." He leaned over to tuck the bills in the man's pocket and stepped back.

"You're firing me for looking out for your kid?" Wayne asked angrily, rubbing his jaw in frustration. He stood looking like he was going to take a swing at Adam but thought better of it as the rest of the men lined up behind Adam. Instead he just clenched and unclenched his right hand.

"Yes, I'm firing you," Adam said firmly.

"Penny ante operation, don't know their head from a hole in the ground, Can't believe a cattle operation bring a kid to a branding" he mumbled under his breath as he moved to gather his stuff. He mounted his horse and rode away in a flurry of dust. Lizzie sniffed and started walking towards the wagon.

"Hold on a minute there, Miss Cartwright," Russ called. "Where are you going?'

"To the wagon, I don't want to be in the way" Lizzie said and stopped walking. She had a few tears running down her cheeks and she kept her back to the men.

"There's still work to be done and I got hired to do one man's job and I don't know about the rest of the men here, but I, for one, do not intend to do my job and yours as well."

Adam had bristled when Russ had first spoken to Lizzie, he headed towards Russ to fire him as well, but he stopped when Lizzie turned around to look at him.

"What do you mean?" Lizzie said uncertainly.

"I mean, you have a job to do and I'm not gonna do my job and _yours_ unless I am getting paid for it." Russ crossed his arms.

"Yeah, Lizzie," Bill chimed in, "we need you working. Branding cattle is hard enough work without us having to cover your job too."

"Really?" Lizzie asked taking a couple of steps towards them.

"Look," Russ said, "this is a money making operation. I doubt your father would have brought you out here if it wasn't going to make things run better," he took a quick glance at Adam to be sure he was on-board, and with a quick nod from Adam, he said, " Are you going to do your job, or do we need to hire on another man?"

Bill held a branding iron out to her, "Come put this iron back in the fire, time's a wasting, Lizzie."

Lizzie glanced up at Adam to see him nodding and then ran over to take the iron from Bill's hand with a smile and the men all returned to work.

At noon they broke for lunch and sat in a loose group under a copse of trees as they shared the food that Adam had brought.

"You know, Lizzie," Russ said as he took a bite of his sandwich, "I was of the same mind as Wayne Green when you came to your first branding. I thought what in the hel…eck, is a little girl going to do at a branding, but you know, you proved yourself pretty quickly."

Adam put his arm around her shoulders, "You should have trusted me, Russ. I wouldn't have brought her if she weren't going to be helpful. As you said, this is a money making operation and we can't afford to carry any dead weight."

"Don't I know it, Mr. Cartwright," Russ said, taking another bite. "You proved you were a Cartwright that day, Lizzie. You know your way around cattle. I've come to depend on you when you're here."

What about what Mr. Green said?'' Lizzie asked.

"He proved how worthless he was first shot out to the bag, worrying about you doing your job when he should have been concerned with his own self. Worthless piece of sh…" He cut off the word as he caught a warning glance from Adam. Lizzie had been around enough ranch hands to know what he was going to say and she laughed. Adam turned and frowned at her in mock seriousness before joining in her laughter.

"You did well to cut the dead weight of Wayne Green early on Mr. Cartwright."

"Don't I know it, Russ," he said leaning back. "Don't I know it."

Lizzie had been working pretty hard that morning in the heat and as she finished her lunch she curled up on the blanket Adam and she were sitting on and fell promptly to sleep.

Adam glanced over at Lizzie and stroked her head.

"Thanks for what you said, Russ."

"Taint nothin' but the truth, Mr. Cartwright," he said and stood. "All right you men, let's get back to work. Cows won't brand themselves."

An hour later, Lizzie woke up and headed back to the fire. She stood next to Bill who was putting the irons back in the fire to heat.

"Why didn't you wake me?" Lizzie asked.

"Everybody needs a break now and again, that was yours. That fire over there needs stoking," he said standing up and walking back to the cows.

Lizzie stirred the fire to get it burning hot again, and then ran for the water bucket, so everybody could have a drink. At the end of the day, the calves were all branded and everybody was exhausted. The men loaded the wagon and Lizzie and Adam took one last turn around the area to be sure the fires were out and nothing had been left behind.

They climbed into the wagon and started home. They rode in silence for a while before Adam asked. "How do you think today went?"

"Good," she said quietly.

"What do you think about Mr. Green?"

Lizzie looked up at him and then back at the road before them and shrugged.

"Lizzie, I saw you grabbing your Apache Tear when you were dealing with him, that made me really proud."

"It did?" She smiled.

"Yes, Mr. Green was treating you disrespectfully and you didn't let your temper get the best of you, of course that made me proud."

"He was hateful," Lizzie said vehemently.

"Yes, he was, and that is why he is no longer employed by the Cartwright family. You were a valuable part of the team and he didn't recognize that."

"Is that why you fired him?"

"I wanted him to know that there are consequences for him being disrespectful to my best girl."

"Am I your best girl?"

"Yep and you always will be."

"What about Carolyn?"

"How can she be my best girl when you're already holding that position?"

"Thanks, Papa," Lizzie slid over next to him and leaned against his arm.

"You worked really hard today and did a good job. Thank you," he said as he patted her leg.

As they headed back to The Ponderosa they didn't see the shadow in the trees of a very angry and a very drunk Wayne Green.


	41. Truly Forgiven

**Thanks for all the review, Chapter 40 has a rewrite, no punching!**

Ben and Sally left the store and Sally ran ahead of Ben, dodging through the people on the walkway, heedless of the frowns that were coming her way.

"Sally," Ben called. "Sally, wait for me." He hurried after her and grabbed her hand just as she started to step out in front of a couple of men coming down the street. "Sally, you need to stay with me." Ben offered a look of apology to the men and started to pull Sally towards where Buck was tied up.

"Let go of my hand," Sally said angrily. "I don't need you to hold my hand. I'm not a baby."

"No, you're not a baby, but you're being mighty careless and I'm not going to run after you. So, you'll hold my hand."

Sally tried unsuccessfully to pull her hand lose of Ben's strong grip. When that was unsuccessful, she tried the dead weight approach. Ben was having none of it and the first place he found to set her down on her backside he did. He crouched down in front of her and said, "Remember when I told you that I would give you a warning when you were not behaving the way you should? Well, consider yourself warned. I want you to hold my hand and walk beside me."

"But I'm not a baby, why do I have to hold your hand? I'll stay with you," Sally whined.

"I do not need to explain myself to you. You'll do as you're told," Ben stood up and taking Sally's hand firmly in his, he began to walk towards Buck again.

Sally dragged slowly behind him, staying just at the end of his arm length, so she was as far from him as she could be without pulling his arm. As they approached the horse, Ben stopped and crouched down again, "Sally, you are treading a fine line between obedience and defiance. You're walking with me, but not beside me as I asked. If you don't want to be in trouble with me, I strongly suggest you find a more cooperative attitude."

With those words he picked her up and put her in the saddle and climbed up behind her, turning Buck to head off to The Ponderosa. As soon as they set out, Sally began moving around in front of Ben, turning this way and that, forcing him to constantly move in the saddle to see around her.

"Sally, will you stop shifting about, I can't see where we're going."

"We should have come in the buggy," Sally said in an angry tone.

"Well, we're on Buck and you had better just accept that and sit still."

Sally stopped shifting around for a short time and Ben began to relax when she sat up, bumping him in the chin, "Dandelions!" She said excitedly.

Ben smiled in spite of himself and said, "Do you want to stop, Sally?"

"Yeah," she said.

"You can do a better job of asking than that," Ben said, not stopping the horse.

Sally sighed, "Please may we stop?"

"Well, since you asked so politely," Ben chuckled as he stopped Buck and helped her down, before getting down himself.

This time Sally knew exactly what to do in a field of dandelions. She ran and she blew the fluff and she laughed. Ben leaned against Buck and mentally shook his head. She could go from sad to sweet to demanding in moments. He hoped that he could teach her to show the sweet side more often. He also hoped that she would wear herself out and sleep the rest of the way home. He found he was having a hard time keeping his patience with her whining. Fifteen minutes later his stomach was growling and he decided it was time that they started for home again.

"Come on Sally," he called, "time to load up."

Sally ignored him and continued playing.

Ben walked across the field and took her hand.

"I said time to go," Ben growled.

"I don't want to leave yet," Sally said, frowning, pulling her hand from his grip and putting her hands on her hips.

"That's not your decision, young lady, it's mine," Ben said as he swept her up, threw her over his shoulder and carried her, struggling, back to Buck.

Ben tried to remember that Sally had had a hard couple of days and that she was probably just emotional about everything that had happened, but he could see where this was going to end up. He recognized it from when his own boys were young: things would start to feel out of control for them and they needed him to step in and exert some control for them.

Sally was asking for it and he knew that she would keep escalating until she got it. Ben just wanted get her home first, so he put her in the saddle, got up behind her and proceeded to ignore her entirely. Every kick of her leg and every shift she made, Ben ignored, until finally she wore herself out with her struggles and fell asleep. When they arrived at the house, Ben carried a still sleeping Sally in and laid her on the couch. He walked to the kitchen and let Hop Sing know he was ready for lunch and to keep Sally's meal for her. He ate slowly, enjoying the quiet, after finishing his meal he moved to his desk and got in a good hour's work before Sally woke up.

"Feeling better?" He asked when her head popped up over the couch.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I thought that you might feel better after your nap since you didn't get a good night's sleep last night. Are you hungry? Hop Sing has your lunch in the kitchen, take a seat and I'll go get it for you."

Sally took a seat at the table and Ben brought her her lunch. He returned to his desk and brought some of his paperwork over to the table, "Do you want some company?"

Sally shrugged and kept eating. They both lapsed into silence and when Sally had finished eating she asked if she could go outside.

"You can go outside if I can trust you to stay in the front of the house. Can I trust you?"

"Yes, Ben," Sally rolled her eyes, "I'll stay in front of the house." She put the side of her face in her hands.

"All right, go on out and play," Ben said and he followed her out to the front porch where he could keep an eye on her.

Sally gave a wide berth to the palomino and finding Lady she sat down next to her and started playing with the cat. Soon she had a bit of straw she that drug in front of Lady, teasing her with it. Ben smiled and redirected his attention to his books.

"Sally? I need to go in the house for a few minutes. Will you be all right?"

"Yes, Ben," Sally called, picking up Lady.

Ben got absorbed by his bookwork, trying to find a ten-cent error, until a half hour had gone by since the last time he had looked up. He finished adding his last column of numbers and when he went back outside, Sally was nowhere to be seen.

"Sally," he called. "Sally?"

Ben began circling the house, calling. He checked the barn and began to get worried when he couldn't find her.

"Sally? Where are you?" He widened his circle, trying to figure out where she had gone to, when he heard a rustling coming from the smokehouse that was set back and away from the house for safety reasons.

Ben opened the door to find Sally, with her back to him.

"I told you to stay in the front yard," he said, pulling her to her feet and turning her around. When she turned around, her face was covered in chocolate cake crumbs, and her mouth was full of the last bits of cake that she had shoved into her mouth when he opened the door. She looked up at him with a guilty expression.

"You were also told you were going to have to wait until dinner for that cake." Ben brushed the crumbs from her face. "Let's go," Ben said gruffly, taking her hand and walking steadily back to the house.

"Where are you taking me?" she cried.

"To your room," Ben said determinedly.

"No, no, I don't want to go to my room!"

"You should have thought of that before you left the front yard and you most certainly should have thought of that before you stole that piece of cake."

"Stole? I didn't steal it!" Sally said in a frightened voice.

"We'll talk about it when we get to your room," Ben kept walking towards the house pulling her along until Sally threw herself down, crying and thrashing around. Ben released her hand and allowed her to roll around on the ground.

"Do not make this worse with a tantrum," he said loudly, hooking his thumbs in his belt and watching her.

Ben watched her silently, trying to keep his irritation in check and then finally gave into it and tossed her over his shoulder, carrying her the rest of the way to the house. Sally kept up her crying and pounding on his back for a while, but by the time they were climbing the stairs to her bedroom, she had given up and was just hanging limply. He walked into the bedroom and grabbing a chair, he put the chair in the corner and Sally into the chair facing the corner. He then took a seat on the bed and crossed his arms with a frown. He took some deep breaths and gradually got a handle on his anger.

"Sally we seem to be revisiting the same problems over and over. You are told not to do something but then you do it anyway. Why is that?"

"But I didn't go far," Sally whined, turning in her chair.

"You were told to stay in the front yard; the smokehouse, although not far, is not in the front yard. Is it?"

"No…" Sally said slowly, "but it was within calling distance. That's the rule Lizzie has."

"In the first place, you were told to stay in the front yard, in the second place you didn't answer when I called," Ben said darkly. "Did you?" Ben demanded.

"No…" Sally turned back to face the corner, crossing her arms.

"Which brings us to why you didn't answer when I called." Ben stretched his legs out before him. "Why was that, Sally? You were within calling distance, but when I called you didn't answer. Why?"

"The cake…" Sally whispered.

"Exactly, the cake you stole," Ben said firmly.

"I didn't steal it," Sally shouted jumping from her chair and coming over to stand right in front of him. "I didn't!"

Ben was surprised at her reaction.

"Did you get permission from Hop Sing to take it?" Ben demanded.

"No, he wasn't in the kitchen," Sally said softly, taking a step back.

"Did you get permission from me? Because I distinctly remember telling you no cake until dinner tonight."

"You didn't say dinner, you said today," Sally argued taking a step back.

She's worse than Little Joe was, he thought, "All right, that may very well be true, so if you felt it was all right to help yourself to cake today," he said emphasizing the word today, "why were you out in the smokehouse eating it?"

"I didn't steal it," Sally said, throwing herself back in the chair.

"We will address that issue in a moment, you haven't answered my question, why were you in the smokehouse eating the cake if you didn't think what you were doing was wrong?"

Sally sat silently and didn't answer.

"Sally, I will have an answer from you," Ben demanded.

When she didn't answer, Ben stood and taking her arm he led her over to the bed and sat back down. He pulled her between his legs and took a deep breath. "I warned you about defiance, not answering my questions is defiant and not answering my questions is getting you into deeper trouble than you are already in," Ben lifted her chin and asked softly, "Is that what you want?"

Sally started crying and shook her head.

"All right, then let's try yes or no answers. Did you know taking the cake was wrong?"

"Yes."

"Is that why you were out in the smokehouse eating it?"

"Yes."

Here's the hard one, Sally, did you know that I would punish you if I caught you with the cake?"

Sally hung her head.

"Sal, the best thing you can do right now is tell me the truth," Ben said gently.

"Yes," she whispered.

"Did you know I would punish you for leaving the front yard?"

"Yes."

'Sally, honey, what I can't understand is after all the trouble you got into for stealing the horse from Mr. Mason, why you would steal the cake?"

"I didn't steal it," Sally yelled desperately.

"Then what do you call it? You took something without permission. You waited until Hop Sing was out of the kitchen and you sneaked in and stole it," Ben said resolutely.

"No, no, no," Sally said struggling to get away, when she started to get frantic, Ben released her. She ran to the far corner and stood there crying. Ben was at a loss. He knew there was a part of this story that he was missing, but he couldn't figure out what it was. Ben scrubbed his face with his hand and folding his hands, he took a deep breath. He waited for Sally's tears to slow, before he stood, walked over to her and picked her up.

"No, no, no," Sally said struggling.

Ben sighed deeply and said, "I'm not going to punish you until I understand." He carried her to the rocking chair and sat her in his lap and began rocking.

"You need to explain what happened to me, Sally," he said as he rocked the crying girl, trying to comfort her.

"I promised," Sally cried.

"Promised what?" Ben asked quietly.

"Not to steal! I promised Mr. Mason I wouldn't steal again and I didn't. I didn't," she cried.

"All right, explain to me how it was different from you stealing the horse." Ben said.

"You would have let me have the cake tonight," Sally said in a hitching voice.

"If you finished your dinner in a timely manner, yes," Ben said firmly.

"Then it wasn't stealing, I just took it early. I'll eat all my dinner tonight," Sally said in a steadier voice.

Ben shook his head trying to understand what he had just heard. He decided it was better to follow the path than try to explain where her logic was wrong. "So, Sally," he said, "in regards to the cake, what do you think you did wrong?"

"I didn't ask permission," Sally said, looking up at him.

"And why didn't you ask permission?"

"'Cause you would have said no."

Ben stifled a small smile and nodded.

"All right, Sally, I'm going to accept your explanation. I'm going to spank you for disobeying me and leaving the front yard and I'm going to spank you for taking the cake without asking permission. But you listen real well," Ben picked placed her on her feet and held her chin in her hand, "anytime you take something that isn't yours without asking permission first, it is stealing. Are we clear on that?"

"Even if I'm going to get it later?'

"Even if you are going to get it later," Ben said.

"Do you think Mr. Mason will be mad that I didn't keep my promise?"

"If you really didn't know it was stealing then, no I don't think he'll be angry with you," Ben said reassuringly. "Now, what about the things you did wrong?"

Sally blushed, "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for, honey?'

"I disobeyed you. I shouldn't have left the front yard and I shouldn't have taken the cake." Sally tried to get her chin from Ben's grip, but he wouldn't let it go.

"What we haven't talked about yet is why," Ben said and dropped his hand.

"Why?"

"Why not just wait until dinner?"

"I didn't mean to, I was just bored playing with the cat and there's nothing to do here," Sally whined.

"I'm sorry you were bored, Sally, but you should have come to me and we might have found something for you to do that wouldn't have ended up in you getting spanked. Will you try that next time?"

Sally nodded.

"I care about you, Sally, and I want you to grow up to be a woman who can be trusted and someone who has self control. I'm going to spank you so that you have good reason not to repeat your mistakes. I want to trust you to do as I ask, and I want you to say no to yourself the next time you're tempted to do something you know you shouldn't."

"Do you mean that cake?" Sally said sadly.

"Yeah," Ben said just as sadly and nodded his head, "if you had said no to yourself, we wouldn't be here right now, would we? There's going to be lots of times in your life when you will know what the right thing is and be tempted not to do it. I hope at those times you'll remember today's lesson."

Ben sighed as he moved back to sit on the bed, pulling Sally with him. He reached up under Sally's dress and untied the ribbons that held up her pantaloons. He pulled her between his legs and up over his left knee. He brought his legs closer together, not trapping her legs, but being sure that he could control her movements and make sure that the spanking didn't land anywhere but on her backside. He gently folded back the green calico dress and took a deep breath.

"When I tell you to do something, you need to mind me, Sally. I want to be able to trust you," Ben scolded as he brought his hand down on her backside. He landed two more swats before he spoke again.

"When I tell you no, you are not to defy me. You are not going to get your own way by stealing and being naughty," Ben said firmly, speaking a little more loudly so that he could be heard over her cries and he swatted her four more times.

Ben adjusted his grip on the struggling girl and landed the five final firmest spanks on her already pink backside and stopped.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed.

Ben stood her up between his legs and put his hand on her shoulder, waiting for the crying to lessen a bit before he said, "No dessert tonight, you already had your dessert for the day. I won't bring it up at the dinner table and no one will say anything unless you do. No one needs to know what happened in this room, but you and I, and no one needs to know why you aren't having dessert, all right?"

Sally nodded.

"All right," Ben said scooping her up and carrying her back to the rocking chair.

"I'm sorry, Ben," she sobbed.

"I know you are honey. I know I'm going to be able to trust you in the future, aren't I?"

"Yes, I'll stay in the front yard, I promise, and I won't steal anything ever again. I'm sorry," Sally said struggling to get the words out between hiccups.

'You're forgiven. You don't have to apologize again. It's over and done with and I know that you're going to do better in the future."

After several minutes in Ben's lap, being rocked, Sally's crying lessened. She leaned back against his chest and looked up at him and said, "I really am sorry."

"I know honey, I believe you. You've been punished, it's over and all is forgiven," Ben felt a flare of anger rise up against Joshua, knowing that not believing that she was forgiven was at least partially his doing.

"But..."

"No buts, you're forgiven," Ben said, putting a finger to her lips. "You don't need to apologize any more."

"You're not still angry with me?" Sally asked shyly.

"I'm not still angry with you," Ben reassured her. "I forgave you the very first time you asked, before you were even punished. I didn't spank you because I was angry with you, I spanked you to teach you and to give you a good reason to obey the rules in the future."

"Really?"

"Really," Ben wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "You are really, truly forgiven."

"Thanks, Ben," Sally said.

"You're welcome, honey," Ben said as he felt her fall asleep.


	42. Wayne Green

Adam felt the bullet hit his shoulder and felt it dislocate before he actually registered hearing the shot.

"Get down, Lizzie," Adam said, reaching across his now useless right arm to push Lizzie down with his left hand onto the floor of the wagon.

Lizzie lay at his feet as Adam brought the horses pulling the wagon to a run. He glanced back and saw Wayne Green thundering down on them, hanging on to his saddle horn and leaning out, firing his gun. When the bullets were spent he threw the gun away, but kept coming. As he drew next to the wagon, Adam saw Wayne launch himself off the horse and onto Adam's back, pulling him back into the wagon bed. Due to the dislocation, Adam's right arm was disabled and while he landed a few punches to Wayne's back, he couldn't land a good blow.

"I'm gonna make you sorry you fired me, Cartwright," Wayne said as he threw a punch, knocking Adam to the floor of the wagon.

Adam struck out with both feet at Wayne's knee, hoping to cripple him. Wayne fell backward over the seat and ended up in the space between the seat and the floor next to Lizzie. He staggered to his feet. Lizzie flinched and stood trying to get away from him.

"You're the one that got me fired in the first place!" He roared, backhanding her across the face.

She fell backwards and onto the dirt road from the still moving wagon. Wayne then moved back into the wagon bed, punching with both hands and driving Adam over the tailgate and he, too, fell to the road. Wayne roared again and turning to grab the reins, he pulled the horses up short and turned the wagon around. Urging the horses on, he raced back towards Adam who was still lying in the middle of the road, intending to run him over. Adam rolled out of the way just as the wagon raced down on him, but he was not quick enough to keep the wheels from running over his left arm, breaking it between his wrist and his elbow.

Wayne stopped the wagon and jumped to the ground; he walked over to Adam and kicked him in the ribs. Wayne pulled Adam to his feet and began punching him, alternating fists, driving him back towards the bed of the wagon. His final punch launched Adam back into the wagon bed. Adam pushed himself back, trying to gain some purchase on the supplies that were skittering beneath him. Wayne staggered and then fell into the wagon, just as Adam fought his way to a sitting position. As Wayne slid towards him, Adam drove both of his feet into Wayne's face, knocking him unconscious. Adam lay in the bed of the wagon panting. As his mind cleared, he struggled to his feet and saw Lizzie lying in the road.

Adam briefly contemplated going to her, but he knew that he would not be able to get himself back in the wagon without the use of his arms and he feared that if Wayne returned to consciousness he might take the wagon, leaving them stranded until someone realized they were missing.

"Lizzie," Adam called in a commanding tone. "Get up and come over here."

Lizzie looked up at her father who was swaying on his feet and started to cry.

"Elizabeth, I told you to come here," Adam commanded again, praying silently that she would be able to get to her feet.

Lizzie slowly got to her feet and walked towards the wagon. As she got nearer he saw that her face was badly bruised and her right eye had started to swell shut. Adam steeled his heart and didn't offer her any sympathy, knowing that if he did, she would probably get too emotional to be of any help. He knew that in his current state he was going to have to depend on Lizzie's good arms to get them out of the situation in which they found themselves.

"Papa," Lizzie cried, holding her hands out to him.

"Lizzie, honey, you need to come up here and get the knife out of my pocket. We're going to have to tie Mr. Green up."

"No…Papa," Lizzie said fearfully.

"Elizabeth, are you allowed to tell me no when I tell you to do something?' Adam asked sternly. The blood he was losing from the wound in his shoulder was starting to make him feel unsteady on his feet, but he forced himself to hang on to consciousness.

"No…" Lizzie whined, she bounced on her legs, trying to release some of the nervousness she was feeling.

"Then do as you're told," Adam commanded again.

"Yes, sir," Lizzie said as she climbed into the wagon bed, edging past Wayne.

"The knife is in my right, front pocket." Adam placed his right foot on Wayne's neck and turned his body towards Lizzie. "He won't hurt you. He's out cold." Lizzie reached into his pocket and pulled out the knife.

She held it up for him to see and he nodded at her.

"Now, I want you to pull out one of the coils of rope and throw it on the ground."

Lizzie gave a high-pitched whine and started bouncing again.

"Elizabeth," Adam said with a warning in his voice.

She kept bouncing, but putting the knife down on the floor of the wagon, she wrestled the coil of rope out from under the unconscious body of Wayne Green and managed to get it over the side of the wagon, then she looked up at her father.

"Good girl. Now take the knife and cut a length of rope about 15 feet long."

Adam felt a wave of nausea flow over him and he forced down the bile that was rising in his throat. Lizzie jumped down and opening the knife she began to saw at the rope, finally managing to hack through a piece.

"Did you get it?" Adam asked weakly as he sat back on the seat of the wagon.

"Yes, Papa," she said looking up at him.

Adam looked down at the battered face of his daughter and willed himself to remain strong for her.

"Do you remember how to tie a bowline?"

"I can't Papa," Lizzie cried, letting the rope fall from her hands.

"Yes, you can," Adam said sternly, with just a hint of encouragement in his voice. "Come over to the side of the wagon and tie a bowline on the rail of the wagon. I'll guide you through it."

"Now, Lizzie," he ordered when she didn't immediately pick up the rope. He didn't want Wayne Green to return to consciousness before Lizzie had tied him up.

Lizzie started crying again, but she picked up the rope and with Adam's guidance tied the knot.

"All right," Adam said. "That was very good, you're doing fine. Throw the other end of the rope up here into the wagon and climb back up here. I want you to wrap the rope around Mr. Green's feet."

Lizzie crawled up into the wagon and looked up at him fearfully.

"Lizzie, honey, I know you can do it. Just pull the rope really hard and wrap it in a figure eight around his legs."

Lizzie drew in a shuddering breath, but did as she was told, pulling the rope tightly around his lower legs and wrestling the rope around his upper legs a couple of times before he told her to tie another bowline around the other rail. As she worked Adam could see that she was calming down. Wayne Green began to come to just as Lizzie was tying the second bowline and Adam kicked him in the head sending him back into unconsciousness.

"Now he's not going anywhere. You're doing really well. I want you to cut another piece of rope to tie his hands."

"His hands?" She asked fearfully.

"Yes, you're going to do exactly the same thing with his arms that you just did with his legs. So, cut two pieces: one about five feet long and one about twenty feet."

Lizzie turned back and started sawing at the rope again, cutting the pieces as Adam directed. When she had the two pieces she climbed back into the wagon and tied Wayne's hands together and then threaded the second rope through and around his upper arms, immobilizing him. When she had finished, Adam took his foot off Wayne's neck and collapsed into the seat of the wagon.

"Papa," Lizzie cried, running past the prone body of Wayne Green and climbing up next to her father.

"Lizzie, you're going to need to drive the wagon back to the Ponderosa," Adam said, closing his eyes from a moment. He was starting to feel that he was losing the battle to keep consciousness.

"I've never done that without you holding my hands," Lizzie said in a worried voice.

"I know you can do it, just pick up the reins and take them to the corral up ahead. You can drive the wagon around the corral and get us headed in the right direction. I'm depending on you, Lizzie," Adam said, trying to smile at the bruised little girl with the swollen shut right eye.

Lizzie sniffed, brushed the tears away from her cheeks and picked up the reins.

"Yes, Papa," she whispered. She slapped the reins twice against the horses' backs and they began to move slowly forward.

"Good," Adam croaked, trying to remain upright.

Lizzie guided the wagon to the corral and began to lead them around the path that surrounded it. She clipped the side of the corral and drew in a sharp breath.

"You're doing fine, just try to guide them away from the corral a little bit," Adam encouraged.

Lizzie over corrected with those words and pulled them through the branches of the trees that were growing close to the path. They slashed across Adam's face leaving red wheals across his face.

"I'm sorry, Papa," Lizzie cried, dropping the reins, the slack reins causing the horses to come to a stop.

"It's all right Lizzie, you're doing fine. Don't worry about me; just worry about getting the wagon back on the road. That's all you need to do honey, however you do it, it will be fine."

"But your face…I didn't mean to…" Lizzie cried as the tears began to course down her face.

"I know. It was an accident. Just pick up the reins and get us back on the road," Adam said gently. "You're doing a really good job."

Lizzie picked up the reins and urged the horses forward again. She dashed the tears away from her cheeks and took shallow breaths as she tried to stop crying. The crying finally settled into hitching sobs as she brought the wagon out on to the road.

Adam's head lolled to the side and Lizzie threw a worried glance towards him before she slapped the horses' backs trying to urge them into a run.

"Not too fast, Lizzie, you need to be able to control them. I'm sure your grandpa and uncles are missing us and will be coming soon. So, just keep us moving towards the Ponderosa." Adam said coming back to consciousness, but not opening his eyes.

Lizzie dashed at her tears with her hand again, before setting her face in grim determination. She kept the horses at a quick walk that she knew was as fast a speed as she could handle.

* * *

><p>Sally sat on the couch reading as Ben paced in front of the fire.<p>

"They should be back by now," he said worriedly.

"Are you going to go looking for them?" Sally asked, looking up from her book.

"Yes, I am," he said determinedly, heading to the front door. It opened just as he reached it.

"The hands are back from the branding, Pa," Hoss said as he came in the door. "Russ said that they left Adam and Lizzie doing a final check. They should be home by now."

Hop Sing came to stand in the door of the kitchen. "Mr. Adam and Lizzie not back yet?' He asked in a worried voice.

"No Hop Sing," Ben said turning to them.

"Joe has the horses saddled," Hoss said.

Ben took a breath and walking back to Sally, who had stood up when Hoss came in. He said, "Sally, Do you think you can take care of things here with Hop Sing? Can you do as he asks so that when we bring Lizzie and Adam back everything will be ready for them?"

Hop Sing walked over and put an arm around Sally's shoulders, "We will have everything ready when you come home."

"Yes, Ben, we'll have everything ready when you come home."

Ben reached out and stroked her cheek, before turning to strap on his gun belt and head for the horses.

* * *

><p>At first Lizzie was able to keep the horses going at a steady clip, but as her arms grew tired, they began to fall and the horses began to slow.<p>

Adam went in and out of consciousness, but snapped to alertness when he realized the horses were slowing.

"Lizzie, what's wrong?" Adam asked slowly.

"I'm trying, Papa, I can't hold my hands up anymore," she said through tears.

"Stand up," Adam said and forced himself across the bench to sit behind her. He put his feet up on the footrest and said, "Stand between my legs and rest your arms on my legs."

When Lizzie did as he asked, "Is that better?"

"Yes, Papa," she said, nodding, and got the horses moving again, resting the weight of her arms on Adam's legs.

Lizzie felt Adam go slack behind her and she burst into tears again, but she kept the horses moving.

"You're going to be doing more than bawling when I get through with you," she heard Wayne Green say behind her.

"I killed your papa and you're next."

Lizzie cried harder than before, but kept the horses moving. She was too scared to turn around to see if Wayne Green was telling the truth or not about her papa, but she hadn't felt him moving in quite some time and she started to be scared that Mr. Green had killed her papa.

"If you untie me, I won't kill you," Wayne Green's voice said softly behind her.

"No," she answered him. "No!"

"You untie me, you little brat or so help me, I'll get loose and beat you to a pulp before I kill you."

"Please don't be dead, Papa. Please don't be dead," she whispered over and over, trying her best to ignore the man in the bed of the wagon.

"He is dead and you will be too, if you don't let me go."

Lizzie turned around trying to see her father's face and seeing his slack face, she realized that Wayne Green was right, her papa was dead, in that moment her crying stopped and she got angry.

"You killed my papa and you're going to jail," she yelled at him hysterically.

She urged the horses into a faster trot and prayed that the rest of her family was looking for her. She remembered the rule that her papa had punished her for not keeping; the one about not ever going farther than calling distance without letting someone know where you were going to be and knew that her family knew were they were branding and that they would find the wagon soon. Through teary eyes, she saw three riders coming at a gallop towards her and with relief she knew it was her grandpa and uncles.

"Lizzie," her grandpa said jumping from the saddle as she stopped the wagon.

"Papa's dead, Mr. Green killed him," she sobbed hysterically, throwing herself into his arms. He staggered as her body hit him and he wrapped his arms around her and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

Hoss jumped from his horse and leaped onto the wagon.

"No, Lizzie, he's not dead, he's just unconscious," Hoss said with relief. "He's been shot, Pa."

"Joe, go for the doctor and the sheriff. Hoss, you drive the wagon back. Lizzie, you'll ride with me," Ben said, taking control of the situation.

"No, I want to ride with Papa," Lizzie cried, trying to get out of Ben's arms.

"No, Lizzie, you ride with me. We'll ride right next to the wagon," Ben said, struggling to keep her in his arms.

Lizzie managed to squirm out of his arms and she ran to the wagon, trying to climb up next to Hoss.

"Elizabeth," Ben called walking over to her. He squatted down and put his hands on her shoulders. "You got him here and now it's time for Hoss to get him home. You need to ride with me; we won't leave his side I promise. You mind me now, do you hear?" Ben picked her up and placing her in the saddle, he mounted up behind her. He kissed the top of her head and wheeled the horse around, riding next to the wagon as he had promised.

As they pulled into the yard of the Ponderosa, Hop Sing and Sally rushed out of the house.

"Hop Sing, Adam's been shot. Start boiling some water. Joe is going for the doctor." He began issuing commands as he got down from his horse and lifted Lizzie from the saddle.

"I'll take care of the trash," Russ said coming out of the bunkhouse with the rest of the hands.

"The sheriff is on the way, Russ. I don't want him hurt," Ben commanded.

"Yes, sir, Mr. Cartwright," Russ said as he began untying the man bound in the back of the wagon, who struggled against the rough handling, but didn't say a word.

"I mean it, Russ. I don't want there to be any reason why he can't stand trial,"

"Yes, sir," Russ repeated, nodding, shoving Wayne Green before him into the knot of hired hands who herded him towards the bunkhouse.

Hoss and Ben carried Adam up the stairs with Lizzie trailing behind them and Hop Sing pulled Sally with him into the kitchen to begin boiling water for the doctor.

Hoss and Ben got Adam into his bed just as he regained consciousness.

"You're home, son," Ben said reassuringly.

"Lizzie?"

"She's right here," Ben said encouragingly.

"Papa?"

"He's going to be all right, Lizzie, go downstairs and let Hop Sing take care of you. You've hurt your face."

"No, I want to stay with Papa," Lizzie said, climbing up on the bed.

"Lizzie…"Ben started.

"Let her stay, Pa," Adam said softly.

"Adam…"

"Let her stay."

Lizzie lied down next to him and put her head on his hip. Adam picked up his hand with a grimace and laid it on her head. Ben sighed and took the chair near the bed and Hoss went downstairs. They stayed like that, as they waited for the doctor and sheriff to arrive.

When the Dr. Fellows and the Sheriff Coffee arrived, Hoss met them at the door.

"Doc, my brother is upstairs. Sheriff, Wayne Green is out in the bunkhouse,"

"I'll want to talk to Adam and Lizzie about what happened," Sheriff Coffee said as he turned to head to the bunkhouse.

"I'll let you know when that's possible Sheriff," Dr. Fellows said, following Hoss up the stairs.

Ben stood as Dr. Fellows entered the room. "Lizzie, go downstairs with Hoss, your papa needs to be seen to by the doctor."

"I want to stay," Lizzie said sitting up.

Adam opened his eyes and taking a deep breath, he said weakly, "Elizabeth Cartwright, your grandpa told you to do something. Now you mind him. If you don't, you're going to find yourself in the corner of this room. Do you hear me?"

With a ghost of a smile on her face, Lizzie said, "Yes, Papa." She jumped off the bed and allowed herself to be led out of the room by Hoss, who closed the door behind him.

"I don't remember smiling when I was threatened with the corner as a boy," Dr. Fellows chuckled as he unpacked his instruments.

"You were never a little girl who needed to be reassured her father was going to be fine," Ben said, as he moved closer to the bed.

Hoss led Lizzie down the stairs to the kitchen where Hop Sing had filled a bathtub. Joe was lounging by the table and eating his dinner.

"You need to get bath and then let me look at eye," Hop Sing said.

Lizzie bit her lip and took a couple of steps back just as a painful yell was heard coming from up the stairs.

"Papa," Lizzie said and the tears began to flow again.

"Ah, honey," Joe said. "Your papa's in good hands, let's get you a bath and some dinner." He started to unfasten the buttons on the front of her torn shirt.

"I can do it, Uncle Joe," Lizzie said trying to bat his hands away, while she glanced up at Sally, Hop Sing and Hoss.

"I know you can, but you don't have to. Let me help, huh?"

"I'm gonna go check on the sheriff," Hoss said leaving the kitchen, realizing Lizzie's need for privacy.

"You come with me, Sally, we'll go pick some herbs to help Mr. Adam and Lizzie heal." Hop Sing put a hand on Sally's neck and directed her out of the kitchen.

"Let me help, huh?" Joe said again softly as he unfastened the buttons at the cuffs of her shirt and eased the torn garment off her body. He winced as he saw how bruised her back was, but smiled at her when she looked up at him. He sat her in the chair he had been sitting in and pulled her boots and socks off, before standing her up and removing the rest of her clothes. He then scooped her up and set her in the warm bath water.

"You had quite a time, didn't you?" Joe said gently as he soaped the washrag and began to gently loosen the caked blood and dirt from her face. She hissed as the blood and dirt came loose.

"You're going to have quite the shiner: one to be proud of," he praised. "Your papa was lucky you were with him."

Lizzie didn't say anything as the Joe gently began to wash her arms and back.

"You were driving that wagon like a pro too. I don't think I'll ever forget seeing you up there..."

Taking her arm, he pulled her to a standing position and washed the rest of her body.

"Sit back down and I'll wash your hair," Joe said, taking up the filled pitcher Hop Sing had left.

"I'll bet you were really scared, but you didn't let that stop you, did you? That's what bravery really is honey...tip your head back... being scared but still doing what needs to be done." Joe poured the water over her hair and began to wash it. When he had finished, he lifted her from the tub and drying her off, he pulled the nightgown Hop Sing had lying near the fire over her head. Joe then put her on her feet and took the plate from the warmer. He picked Lizzie up and sat down with her in his lap and put the plate before her.

"I'm not hungry, Uncle Joe," Lizzie said quietly.

"You had a long day and I think once you take a few bites, you'll see you're hungrier than you thought you were," Joe reached out to pick up a forkful of food and held it out for her to take. Lizzie nodded and took the fork from his hand. The bath had relaxed her and she hadn't heard any more cries from upstairs, so she settled back into her Uncle Joe's lap and ate her dinner carefully, mindful of the swelling in her face.

She had just finished eating when Dr. Fellows came into the kitchen.

"Papa?" she asked, getting out of Joe's lap.

Dr. Fellows glanced up at Joe as if seeking permission to give the details about her father's condition and when he got a nod, he turned back to Lizzie.

"Your papa is very lucky, Lizzie. I think he's going to be fine."

"I heard him crying…" she said in an accusatory tone.

Dr. Fellows sat down and pulled her towards him. He started probing her eye. "He had a dislocated shoulder. It hurts to have that put back in place, but it feels better as soon as it's done. Now, let's see how you are."

He ran his hands over her arms and legs checking for broken bones and checked her bruises.

"I don't think anything is broken, but if anything starts hurting more than it is now, I want you to tell one of your uncles or your grandpa, understood?"

When she nodded, he looked at her seriously, "Your father told me a little bit about what happened out there. You are quite something, do you know that?"

Lizzie ducked her head as Hop Sing came back into the kitchen. Dr. Fellows stood and put a hand on her head for a moment. He then turned and talked to Hop Sing about the available herbs and what he should do for Lizzie and Adam.

When the doctor had left, Lizzie turned to Joe. "I want to see Papa," she said.

"All right," he picked her up and carried her up the stairs to Adam's room.

"He's sleeping," Ben said softly when they came into the room. He stood and took Lizzie from Joe's arms. "Do you want to sit with him a while?" He asked as he sat back down.

Lizzie nodded and settling back into his chest, she promptly fell asleep.


	43. Courage Under Fire

Hop Sing came into the room a few minutes later with two cups of willow bark tea.

"For Mr. Adam and Lizzie," he said, putting them on the bedside table. "Better if they both drink this now," he added as Lizzie stirred in her sleep. "I put bruise cream in Lizzie's room."

Ben held out his hand and Hop Sing put the cup in his hand before sitting on the bed and beginning to force the liquid through Adam's lips.

"Lizzie, honey, you need to drink this," Ben said softly, holding the cup to her lips.

"No," she said twisting her head away from the cup.

"Come on, Lizzie, drink a little bit, it will make you feel better."

"I don't want to feel better!" Lizzie said angrily, getting out of his lap.

"What?" Ben asked incredulously.

"It's my fault Papa's hurt."

"Whoa, there. It's not your fault," Ben said reaching out for her.

"Yes it is," she cried and ran from the room.

"Hop Sing, will you stay with Adam?" Ben asked as he walked towards the door.

Ben walked down the hallway to Lizzie's room and found her crying on her bed. Putting the tea on her bedside table, he picked her up and walked towards the rocking chair as she cried and struggled to get down. Ben held on to her tight and rocked her until the struggles died down.

"Now, what is this you said about it being your fault that your papa was hurt?" He asked gently.

"It is, Grandpa; it is!"

"Tell me how," Ben encouraged.

Lizzie burst into tears again. Ben brought his hand to her head and gently laid her head on his chest, stroking her hair softly.

As her crying lessened, Lizzie said, "Papa fired Mr. Green because of me."

"I'm sure that's not what happened, Lizzie."

"It is. I was in the way and Mr. Green got mad and Papa fired him."

"Lizzie, even if that's true, which I highly doubt, you were not responsible for Mr. Green's actions."

"But if I hadn't been there, it wouldn't have happened."

"Lizzie, Mr. Green is a grown man, he decided to do all the things he did today on his own. You had nothing to do with it."

"Yes, Grandpa," Lizzie said softly, climbing down from his lap.

"I mean it, Lizzie, you are not responsible," Ben said firmly.

"Yes, Grandpa," Lizzie said, nodding and turning towards the door. "Can we go back to Papa's room now?"

"After you drink Hop Sing's tea and you let me put some of this cream on your bruises," he said resignedly.

Lizzie walked over to the bedside table and drained the cup Ben had left there. She then turned her back to him and lifted her nightgown so he could put some cream on her back.

"Thanks, Grandpa," she said and picking up her pillow and a blanket, she left the room, heading across the hall to Adam's room. Ben sighed, knowing he was being placated and followed her.

* * *

><p>Downstairs, Hoss and Sally were sitting down to dinner in the kitchen.<p>

"Hoss, do you think they're going to be all right?" Sally asked.

"Why sure, the doctor said Adam was going to be fine and Lizzie is just bumped and bruised up a might. We all sure were glad you and Hop Sing were taking care of things here at home. I'll bet you were responsible for that nice warm bath water weren't cha?"

"Hop Sing and I carried it in to heat up," Sally said shyly.

"I know they'll both feel better with those herb teas Hop Sing makes."

"Hoss, do you think Mr. Green might come back here?" Sally asked in a worried voice.

"Nah, honey, he's locked up tighter than a drum in Virginia City. He ain't goin' nowhere." Hoss took a final bite. "How about some of that chocolate cake? I think there must be some more of it around here." Hoss stood up and started looking for a knife.

"Umm, no, thank you," Sally said looking at her plate.

"You sure…?" Hoss asked turning with the knife in his hand.

"Uhh huh," Sally said, blushing as she pushed the last of her dinner around her plate.

"Yeah, I guess I don't feel much like cake either," Hoss said, tossing the knife back in the drawer "not with Adam and Lizzie hurt. We might feel more like dessert tomorrow night."

Sally looked up at him with a smile and he grinned back at her.

"I reckon you oughta think about bed now," Hoss held out his hand to her and she got up from the table and walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

Hoss followed her to her bedroom and began to turn the covers down as Sally changed into her nightgown.

"You just crawl in here. I'll go get Pa to say goodnight and see what kind of book I can find in Lizzie's room. How does that sound?"

"Good," Sally said, smoothing the covers and lying back on the pillows.

"Pa, how's Adam doing?" Hoss asked quietly as he entered the room, glancing at his pa, and then over to the window seat where Lizzie was sleeping.

"He's asleep. The bullet went through his shoulder, which Dr. Fellows said was a good thing, even though it dislocated the shoulder as it passed through. His left arm is broken below the elbow. The doctor splinted it and now all we can do is wait. Hop Sing's herbal tea took some of the edge off the pain I think. He and Lizzie," he gestured towards the girl asleep on the window seat, "should sleep through the night, I hope."

"Good, " Hoss said nodding. "Well, Pa, I thought you might want to say good night to Sally."

"Yes, son, thank you," he swiped a hand across his weary face and stood up.

As he passed Hoss, Hoss grabbed his arm and said, "You might like to hear that Sally turned down chocolate cake tonight." He looked down at the floor, hooking his thumbs in his back pockets.

Ben slapped him on the arm with a smile and said, "That's good news, Hoss."

"I figured you might think so," Hoss said and returned his smile.

"Well, now," Ben said with a smile as he walked into the Sally's bedroom, "you all ready for bed?" Ben took a seat on the edge of the bed. "I wanted to thank you for keeping the home fires burning while we were taking care of Adam and Lizzie."

"I just carried water and helped Hop Sing with the tea."

"Well, I appreciate it," Ben said heartily. He paused a moment, looking at his hands before saying "I also heard you turned down cake tonight." He glanced at her through hooded lids, then reached out and stroked her cheek. "That was very respectful of you, especially considering I never would have known whether you had dessert or not."

Sally blushed. "You said no…" she said, looking down.

Ben smiled, "I did," he said nodding, "and I'm proud of you for minding me." He stroked her cheek again.

Hoss walked in the room waving a book, "I found a good one."

Ben stood, "I'll say good night, then. See you in the morning Sally. Thank you again for everything you did." He leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"Good night, Ben," Sally said, smiling slightly, before sliding over as Hoss came to take his pa's place.

* * *

><p>The sunrise and dawn chorus brought Adam awake; he glanced over at his sleeping father and then over to the window seat. Seeing Lizzie awake and looking at him, he said, "C'mere my brave girl."<p>

Lizzie got up from the window seat and stood next to his bed.

"Come over here to my left side and get in bed with me, I want to talk to you and I don't want to wake Pa," he said softly, glancing at Ben, who was snoring with his chin on his chest.

Lizzie did as she was told and Adam painfully raised his left arm so she could cuddle up next to him.

"I didn't get a chance to thank you for yesterday."

"Thank me?"

"Yes, thank you, you got us out of a pretty tough situation. You did so well. I know you were scared having to do the things I asked." Adam said as he stroked her hip slightly with his thumb. "You were so brave and I am so proud. I know how hard it was to obey me, especially being hurt and scared." He looked down at her. "How's your face feeling this morning? I'm so sorry about that."

"It hurts," she said, reaching up to touch her swollen eye.

"I want you to drink some more of that tea this morning and I want you in your own bed tonight."

"I want to stay in here with you, Papa," Lizzie said quietly.

"Lizzie, you were hurt too and you need to rest. You'll do that better in your own bed."

They lay together quietly and then Lizzie asked, "Papa, were you scared yesterday?"

"I was when I saw you lying in the road, but when you were so brave, fair lady, I knew we were going to be all right."

"I'm sorry those branches hurt your face." She looked up at him and stoked the welts gently.

"Don't you give it another thought, you got us out of a really tough spot and drove that wagon far better than I could have at eight years old. Like I told you yesterday, you did everything exactly right. I love you, Lizzie." He said as he faded off to sleep.

"Your papa needs to rest now," Ben said softly from the chair where he had been watching them. "Let's go to your room and take care of your bruises."

Lizzie nodded and carefully climbed out of the bed. Ben put his hand on her shoulder, guiding her to her room.

"Hop Sing left some tea for you," Ben said pointing. "We'll put some more cream on your back. Do you want to get dressed today or stay in your nightgown?"

"Get dressed," she said, sighing, and drinking the tea.

"You'll probably be more comfortable in a dress today," Ben motioned her over to him and started to put some of the cream on her back.

"Yes, Grandpa," Lizzie said quietly.

Ben stood and pulled an old, soft and worn, red calico dress from her wardrobe and helped her take off her nightgown and put on the dress. The dress hung from her shoulders.

"Want to skip the sash?'' Ben asked holding up the black sash that would normally be tied at her waist.

Lizzie nodded.

"Let's go down and have some breakfast," Ben directed and he followed her down the stairs.

The mood at the breakfast table was subdued and the meal ended quickly. Lizzie ate what she put on her plate, which wasn't as much as Ben thought she should.

"Lizzie, I wish you'd eat a little more…" Ben said quietly.

"I'm not really hungry, Grandpa." Lizzie said picking up her plate and carrying it to the kitchen.

"Joe's already outside taking care of chores and Sally and I are going to clear the table, Lizzie, so you can rest," Hoss said as Lizzie came back from the kitchen.

"Thanks, Uncle Hoss," Lizzie said sadly as she walked up the stairs. "I'll be in my room."

Ben folded his hands and watched her walk up the stairs. He knew she was still feeling guilty, but hadn't quite decided what to do about it. As Ben returned to Adam's room, he glanced in to Lizzie's room and saw her lying on the window seat staring out the window. Ben sighed as he walked into Adam's room.

"What's the sigh about, Pa?"

"Nothing Adam," he forced a smile onto his face, "it's just been a long night. How are you feeling this morning?"

"Pa, I know there's something you're not telling me. Is it about me or Lizzie?'

Ben closed the door and walked across the room to sit in the chair near the bed.

"Adam, you have enough to deal with just getting well." He stared down at his folded hands.

"So, it's Lizzie… Pa," Adam said firmly, "I won't let you hide things about my daughter from me. If something is going on with her, I need to know. If you won't tell me, I'll get up from this bed and go find out for myself." Adam began to sit up, wincing.

"No, Adam, I'll tell you, just lie back down," Ben said, leaning forward and motioning with his hands. He blew out a breath and sat back as Adam put his head back on the pillows.

"Lizzie is blaming herself for you getting hurt."

"I talked to her this morning about the branches."

"No, she is blaming herself for Wayne Green's actions. She told me last night that you fired him because of her and that if she hadn't been at the branding, he wouldn't have shot you."

Adam closed his eyes, "Well, that's just ridiculous. He was fired because he didn't want to work on a team with Lizzie. He was more concerned with tormenting her than he was with doing his job. Lizzie had nothing to do with the bad job he was doing."

"She said something about being in the way," Ben said, folding his hands and sitting back in the chair.

"Yeah, that's what he kept telling her, but she was not underfoot. She was a help not a hindrance out there."

Adam winced in pain as he sucked in a big breath, shifting to find a more comfortable position.

"Here, Adam," Ben said grabbing the cup of tea, "drink some more of the tea."

"No, that tea makes me sleepy. Ask Lizzie to come in here. I need to talk to her."

"Adam, you need to rest."

"I will Pa, as soon as I have Lizzie straightened out. I promise."

Ben blew out a big breath as he looked at the floor.

"There's more?"

"Last night she didn't want to feel better since she thought it was her fault that you were hurt. She didn't want to drink Hop Sing's tea and she only gave in so that I wouldn't continue to try and convince her she wasn't at fault. She didn't eat much breakfast this morning either."

"Pa, please ask her to come in here."

"All right," Ben said, nodding. He walked across the room and opened the door.

"And, Pa?" Adam said. "Please leave us alone to talk."

"All right, son" Ben said resignedly and went across the hall to Lizzie's room.

"Lizzie, honey?" Ben called. "Your papa wants to see you."

"Yes, Grandpa," Lizzie said sadly, getting up off the window seat.

As she walked into Adam's room, he said, "Close the door, please, Lizzie."

"Am I in trouble, Papa?" Lizzie asked as she closed the door.

"Well, that depends, are you minding your grandpa and uncles?"

"Yes…" she said, keeping her back to him.

"Really? I heard that you didn't want to drink Hop Sing's tea last night."

"But I did," Lizzie said, hanging her head.

"Did you eat your breakfast this morning?"

"Yes," Lizzie said, keeping her eyes on the floor.

"I know guilt when I see it, Lizzie. What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing…" Lizzie said, kicking at the floor.

"You know how I feel about lying, Lizzie," he said softly.

"I'm not lying," Lizzie said, not looking up at him.

"That's lie number two," he said sternly. "You better not tell me a third one."

Lizzie drew in a hitched sob.

"Come over here," Adam said gently.

Lizzie walked slowly over to him, keeping her head down.

Adam held his left arm up, wincing, "Come up here, Lizzie. I want you to tell me what you're feeling guilty about."

Lizzie climbed up on the bed and put her head on his chest. She lay there for a long time, picking at the stitching on the sheets. Adam closed his eyes and waited.

"It's my fault Mr. Green hurt you," she finally whispered.

"Ah, Lizzie," Adam said sympathetically, shaking his head, "you're wrong, honey."

"He shot you because I was in the way," she said sitting up to look at him.

"He shot me because he lost his temper."

"But he wouldn't have lost his temper if I hadn't been in his way."

"You were not in the way out at the branding, but for argument's sake, let's say you were. You are not responsible for how Mr. Green handled himself."

"But…" she started to argue.

Adam growled in frustration.

"Lizzie, why were you sent to bed the first night Sally got here?" He asked, taking a different tack.

"Because I got in a fight with Sally…" She answered, confused by the change in the conversation.

"Why did you get in a fight with Sally?'

"She cheated at checkers and she slapped me," Lizzie said.

"So, it's her fault you lost your temper." Adam said firmly.

Lizzie sat up to look at him with questioning eyes.

"Why were you sent to bed without supper a few days ago?" He continued.

"Papa…." Lizzie said, shaking her head.

"Lizzie, why were you sent to bed without supper?" He demanded.

"Because I screamed at you," she said, closing her eyes

"Why did you scream at me?" He inquired forcefully.

"Papa…" She said, opening her eyes to look at him.

"Answer the question, Lizzie."

"Because you wouldn't let me go outside." She said softly, beginning to pick at the stitching on the sheets again.

"So it was my fault you lost your temper and screamed at me, which resulted in you being sent to bed early without supper. Pretty unfair of me to punish you for something that was my fault." Adam said rubbing her leg and raising his eyebrows.

"That's different. Papa," she said blushing.

"How?"

Lizzie sighed.

"Lizzie, was it Sally's fault or my fault you lost your temper and did something you shouldn't have?"

"No…"

"Whose fault was it?"

"Mine," Lizzie said quietly after a long moment, bunching the sheet in her hands and looking up through her eyelashes to meet his eyes.

"And whose fault was it that Mr. Green lost his temper and shot me?"

Lizzie stared at him a long time and Adam kept her gaze. When he saw a tiny glimmer of a smile, he started nodding.

"Lizzie, whose fault is the fact that I'm hurt?'

"Mr. Green's," she said definitively.

"Yes," Adam said emphatically, nodding, "we are all responsible for our own actions. He was fired because he wasn't working as part of the branding team, a branding team of which you were an important part."

"But he said I was in the way…"

"And Russ, Bill and the rest of the hands said you were a help, so who are you going to believe? The people you've worked with over the years or the man who shot your father?" Adam smiled a huge smile at her.

Lizzie smiled and put her arms around his neck for a hug. Adam grimaced as his chest took her weight, but he put his left arm around her and hugged her back.

"Are you still feeling guilty?" Adam asked. "Don't you lie to me, little girl."

"No," she said and Adam could hear the smile in her voice.

"So, no more giving Grandpa a hard time about medicine or eating or sleeping in your own bed?"

"No, Papa."

"Sit up and let me see you," Adam ordered.

"Whose fault is it when you lose your temper and do things you shouldn't?"

"Mine."

"And whose fault was it when Mr. Green lost his temper and hurt us?"

"Mr. Green's."

"Good girl," Adam said weakly. Closing his eyes, he fell asleep.

Lizzie got up quietly and went out in the hallway. Her grandpa was leaning against the opposite wall with his arms folded and his legs crossed at the ankles. She looked up at him and met his sympathetic eyes.

"Feeling better?" He asked.

"Yes, Grandpa," she said with a smile.

"Still feeling guilty?" He asked, squatting down and holding his arms open.

"No, Grandpa," she said running over to him and into his arms.

"Good," he said hugging her, "because you aren't responsible for anything, but saving you and your father's lives yesterday. In the military, they call what you did courage under fire and I am very proud of you."


	44. Affianced

Ben walked slowly down the stairs after both Lizzie and Adam were asleep. He had contemplated crawling into his own bed after a night of interrupted sleep on the chair near Adam's bed, but headed downstairs for his place by the fireplace instead. He found Sally poking at the fire with a stick.

"Sally, you should come away from the fire, I don't want you to get burned." Ben said as he collapsed into his chair

Sally stood up and walked over to his chair and said, "When are you going to take me to town so I can see my mama?"

"Sally, I don't think I can take you to town today, but…"

"I've been good last night and today. I even helped with chores. Why don't I get to go to town?" She shouted.

"Watch your tone," Ben said in a growl, leaning forward.

"No! You said I could go to town and now you're not going to take me," Sally said as her shouting turned to a whine.

Ben felt his ire rising, but rather than respond to her, he stood up, grabbed her arm and walked her over to the corner near the desk.

"Sally, I have been up most of the night and I really don't relish being shouted and whined at, you'll find you are more likely to get what you want when you speak to me more politely. Now, you take some time and think about that," Ben said as he sat in the desk chair. He put his head in his hand and in a few minutes, he fell asleep.

Sally turned around when the snoring started and began to quietly creep from the corner.

"He may be asleep now, but he's going to wake up and will expect you to be in the corner where he put you."

Sally glanced over to see Little Joe coming out of the kitchen. He twirled his finger indicating that she should turn back around to the corner. Joe walked over, leaned against the wall next to her and asked, "What happened?"

"He said I couldn't go into town to see my mama," Sally hissed.

"Did he say you couldn't go into town or that he couldn't take you?"

Sally looked up at him with a puzzled look.

"Pa has been up most of the night with Adam and Lizzie, so I suspect that he was going to ask me or Hoss to take you to town today."

"He's right," Sally heard Ben say tiredly.

"What?' Sally asked turning from the corner.

"Turn back around," Ben commanded. "I said, Little Joe is right. If you hadn't interrupted me, I was going to say that I can't take you to see your mama but Little Joe or Hoss could. You didn't give me a chance to say that."

"Oh," said Sally.

"Yes, oh," Ben repeated, putting his face back in his hand and closing his eyes.

"Are you not going to let me go now?" Sally asked sadly, hanging her head.

"I supposed I could not allow you to go…" Ben started.

"But…" Sally interrupted, turning around again.

"Sally you need to listen and stop interrupting me," Ben said irritably.

Sally turned back to the corner and put her head against the wall.

Ben sighed before saying, "I would never keep you from seeing your mama, she needs to see you as much as you need to see her, and if you had let me finish my sentence before getting upset and interrupting me you would have known that without having to stand in the corner. Now come over here."

Ben put his hands on Sally's hips as she came to him and pulled her between his knees, "Were you right to interrupt me?" He asked.

"No," Sally said hanging her head.

"Were you right to get angry with me?" He asked, reaching out his hand and lifting her head.

"No."

"So, what now?"

"I'm sorry I interrupted you and thought you weren't going to let me go to town," Sally said looking into his eyes.

"And in the future?" Ben prompted, dropping his hand.

Sally looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"And in the future," Joe finished for her, "you won't interrupt and assume you aren't going to get what you want."

"Sally, honey," Ben sighed. "You have a tendency to try to force people to give you what you want with your attitude, but by asking politely and waiting for the answer, I think you could avoid things like the corner more often. Now ask me again."

Sally sighed before saying "Will you let Little Joe take me to town?"

"Yes, if you ask him and he agrees, he can take you to town, I'm sorry I can't go with you."

"Little Joe, " Sally said shyly, "will you take me to town today?"

"It would be my pleasure," Joe said, pushing his shoulder against the wall and standing up. "Are you ready to go now?" When she nodded, he reached out and put his hand on her back, guiding her to the front door.

They arrived in town shortly before noon and proceeded directly to the hotel. Joe, as he moved towards the room to knock, heard the sounds of arguing.

"Ruth we need to tell her," said a male voice in a slightly elevated tone.

"John, she barely knows you, we can't tell her until she knows you better," said a female voice in an exasperated tone.

"All right, Ruth, but there isn't much time. I am going to start to get to know her today."

Joe knocked loudly and turned to see if Sally had heard the argument. A glance at her face told him that she hadn't and he pushed her in front of him as the door to the room opened.

"Sally, Joe come in," John said as he opened the door. He stepped back so they could enter.

"Hi, Mama, how are you feeling today?" Sally asked as she ran over to the bed.

Joe shot a quick look at Dr. Fellows, reassuring him with a glance that he had heard the conversation, but Sally had not.

"Sally, honey, how are things at the Ponderosa?"

"Adam got shot and he has a broken arm and Lizzie had to drive the wagon even though she was hurt and Mr. Green is in jail!" Sally said in a rush.

"What?" Ruth asked anxiously, sitting up abruptly.

"It's not as bad as it sounds, Ruth," Joe started.

"Adam shot with a broken arm? How can that not be bad?" Ruth demanded as she pulled Sally up onto the bed next to her and wrapped her arms around her protectively. "John, did you know about this?"

"Now, Ruth…" John started, trying to placate her.

"John, my baby is surrounded by people being shot and you didn't tell me?" She questioned the men in a trembling tone.

"Honey, you need to calm down, everything in fine. I didn't tell you because I'm not going to share private information with you about my patients."

"Sally, are you okay?" Ruth asked, looking down at her daughter.

"I'm all right, Mama. Adam got shot while they were out branding."

"Ruth," Joe said quietly, "Adam is going to be fine, the bullet passed through his shoulder and he will be fine. Things like this can happen. We all accept it as part of being out in the west as we are."

"Well, if that is the way of things here in the west, I'm not sure I want to stay."

"Ruth," John said quietly. "This is my home now. I had hoped that you would make it your home too."

"Oooo," Ruth said angrily, flinging herself back on the pillows, pulling Sally with her. Sally wriggled out of her arms and sat up.

Sally looked questioningly at her now silent mother, then to John, then back to her mother. "What do you mean, want to stay? Aren't we going back to San Francisco, Mama?"

"Nothing, I didn't mean anything by it, Sally," Ruth said reaching out to stroke Sally's hair.

"Ruth," John said quietly. "We need to tell her."

"Tell me what?" Sally demanded.

"I told you it's nothing."

John sighed and took a seat in a chair, crossing his arms over his chest. He frowned at Ruth, but didn't say anything.

"What's wrong, Mama?" Sally asked in a worried voice. When Ruth didn't respond, she cast a worried look at John, then, Sally got off the bed and walked over to John.

"Tell me!" She demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

John glanced back up at Ruth and getting a nod, he said, "Sally how would you feel about staying in Virginia City?" He looked up at Little Joe and got a huge smile.

"Congratulations!" He said cheerily.

"Your mama and I are going to get married and we are all going to live here in Virginia City, what do you think about that?"

"I want to go back home to San Francisco," Sally said resolutely.

"This will be your home now. You'll make all sorts of new friends. You already know the Cartwrights and when school starts you'll make so many new friends!"

Sally stepped away from him and was about to throw herself on the floor, when she glanced at Little Joe. He was frowning and shaking his head. Instead, she threw herself into one of the chairs and crossed her arms over her chest, and said through gritted teeth, "I don't want to live in Virginia City, I want to live in San Francisco."

"We plan to be married next week, Sally, once your mama is on her feet and you and she will live with me," John looked at her hopefully.

"Will I have my own room? What about my things in San Francisco?" She whined.

"My house has room just for you and we'll bring all your things from San Francisco. You'll live with the Cartwrights for a little while longer, unless you want to move into the hotel with your mama and we can get to know each other better."

"Congratulations, Ruth, John," Little Joe said happily. "I am sure Pa will insist that we throw an engagement party." Joe walked over and put his hand on Sally's shoulder. He gave it a quick squeeze and a pat.

"Oh, Joe," Ruth laughed. "I don't think that will be necessary. We'll be married in just over a week."

"You know my pa well enough to know that he won't care about that, he'll want to have a party. May I share your news with the family?"

"Well," Ruth said quietly. "What do you think, Sally?"

Sally kept her arms crossed and just looked away.

"Come on Sally, I have a stethoscope in my office, I can let you hear your heart beat, would you like that?"

John reached out his hand and took Sally's in his, pulling her gently from the chair.

"I have some supplies to get at the general merchandise and then I'll come for you, all right?" Joe asked. "I'll let the family know the happy news!" Joe winked at Ruth.

Sally sighed and followed John from the room. When they arrived at his office, John pulled a chair out from the wall and sat in it, pulling Sally to stand in front of him.

"Let me have it," he encouraged.

"What do you mean?" Sally asked crossing her arms across her chest protectively.

"How do you feel about your mama and me being married?"

Sally took a couple of steps back and turned away.

"What? Angry? Sad? Glad?"

Sally shrugged.

"Ah come on, you're angry because you want to go back to San Francisco; you hate Virginia City, you don't like the Cartwrights. What? You want to strangle me?" Sally glanced over her shoulder to see John with his hands around his throat and his eyes crossed.

Sally giggled.

"Ah ha, now we've gotten to the root of it," he winked at her. "I love your mama, you know, and I think you'll like Virginia City. You already have built in friends with the Cartwrights."

"Would you be my papa?" Sally asked wistfully.

"I guess I would," John said sincerely. "If that's what you want. No need to decide today, you think about it." John said as a shadow crossed Sally's face. "Come on, I want you to hear your heart."

John picked up the stethoscope,put the earpieces in her ears and held the bell to her chest. He watched her intently as she looked up at him excitedly and smiled.

"Can I hear yours?"

"Of course," John said with a smile and held the bell to his own chest.

"Yours is faster," she smiled.

"I'm nervous," he said quietly. "It's making my heart beat faster."

"How come?"

"Because I asked your mama to marry me and she said yes and I also got a beautiful Sally girl in the deal. I'm going to have a whole new family. That makes me nervous."

"Will I really have my own room when you and Mama get married?" Sally asked putting the bell back on her own chest.

"Yes," John said seriously and nodded his head once.

"Will you really be my papa?"

"Yes," John nodded firmly.

"What if I'm naughty?" She asked quietly.

"Ah, I'm sure you're a good girl…" John started, but stopped when she turned her back to him and hung her head.

John sat back and looked at the little girl's back. He contemplated what to say and his mind raced, wishing that Ruth or one of the Cartwrights was there to tell him what to say. He knew he was out of his depth, but he couldn't just leave her standing there. At that moment he suddenly realized what he would be taking on when he married Ruth.

"We'll figure it out, Sally. I promise. I'm going to be the best papa I can for you and when you're naughty, well, part of my job will be to help you learn not to be naughty. Come on, let's go find Joe." John stood up abruptly and putting a hand on Sally's shoulder her steered her out the door and over to the mercantile.

They found Joe loading the wagon with the supplies.

"Hey, I would have come for you," Joe said, throwing the last bag of flour in the bed of the wagon. "You ready to leave?" He asked Sally.

Sally gave one glance to John and climbed up in the wagon.

"I guess that means yes," Joe chuckled and winked at her.

"See you tomorrow, Sally," John called as they drove away. He slowly walked up the steps to the mercantile and sat in the bench outside the door. He was lost in thought.

"Will said you wanted to see me, Pa," John heard a young female voice say.

"Yes, Jenny, have a seat."

John slid over to the end of the bench and by putting his arm up on the bench, he was able to look into the mercantile. He saw a cute girl with blonde hair sitting in a chair by the end of the counter and Jim Mason, leaning on the counter looking at her.

"I'm not happy about the way I heard you speaking to your mother this morning."

"Pa, she's just impossibly old fashioned. She forgets how old and am and she is still treating me like a child!" Jenny folded her hands over her chest.

"Sounds to me like you've forgotten how old you are too," Jim said, standing in front of her. "You are old enough to mind you words and your tone."

Jenny blushed.

"What was the problem between you two?"

"I wanted to let my skirts down and she said I was too young," Jenny whined.

"Jenny," Jim said as he squatted down in front of her, "we'll let you wear longer skirts when you're a little older and your running and playing days are mostly behind you. Are you ready to give those things up?"

"I just wanted a longer dress for parties," Jenny said quietly as her father reached out to take her hands.

"You can't have it both ways, sweetheart, either you are grown up and ready to take up a less rambunctious life or you're in short skirts for a while yet: no more games of tag, no more wading in the creek, no more climbing over the fence instead of walking through the gate. Are you ready to do that?" He raised his eyebrows at her.

"No…"

"Then, I believe, your mother was right to tell you no about a longer dress. She was looking out for your best interests and you didn't speak to her very kindly for her troubles, did you?"

"No…" she said, hanging her head.

"Do you want me to come with you when you apologize?"

"No, I'm old enough to apologize without you there!" Jenny said in an irritated voice.

"Jennifer, you are treading on thin ice," he said standing up and crossing his arms. "You sassed your mother this morning and now you're doing the same to me. You know better than to speak to me or your mother that way and if you don't, you do know I have some pretty unpleasant ways of reminding how you should act. I wasn't trying to hurt your feelings or imply that you aren't old enough to apologize without me there. I just thought you might like me along since you and your mother have tangled a couple of time lately. A "no thank you, Pa" would have been just fine."

"I'm sorry, Pa," she said softly, ducking her head. "Thanks for offering to go with me."

"There's the sweet girl I know," he said. "Come find me later and I'll sneak you a peppermint." He reached out his hand to help her from her chair.

He put his arm around her shoulders and walked her towards the door, "I love you sweetheart," he said as he watched her walk through the door. He straightened his apron and walked out the front door of the store. Glancing around, he saw John, who had sat up abruptly sitting on the bench.

"Growing up's hard on everybody, sometimes," he said smiling. "Jim Mason," he said, holding out his hand.

"John Fellows, I'm the new doctor in town," he said as he stood and took the offered hand.

"Yes, of course, I've seen you around town. Joe Cartwright said you'd been up at the house caring for Sally's mama and now Adam. Are you finding Virginia City to your liking?"

"I am actually. It's funny you should mention Sally's mama, she and I are engaged to be married."

"Wonderful! Congratulations!"

"Thank you, although after what I over heard just now, I am more than a little trepidatious about becoming a husband and a father."

"You are getting quite a ready made family, aren't you?" Jim laughed. "That's," he jerked his thumb towards the store, "never easy, but at least I got eased into it. You're not going to have that luxury, are you?"

"No, sir, I am not," he said emphatically. "I naively thought I would be okay until Sally happened to ask how I would handle her being naughty. It set me back a step."

Jim took a seat on the bench and stretched out his legs, "Yes, Sally, I don't think she's had much discipline in her young life," he gestured for John to sit. "From what I've seen, her grandfather is a little too stern with her and, no offense meant towards your fiancée, but she seems a little bit too passive with Sally. The Cartwrights have been good for her, I think. She just doesn't know what she is supposed to do," he slapped John on the shoulder, "I expect you'll be tested a time or two before she settles down."

"That's what I'm worried about," he turned to Jim with a sick look on his face.

"She stole from me the first time I met her," Jim leaned back.

"Great."

"Actually, I can tell you that she's wasn't too apologetic, when Mr. Cartwright brought Sally and her entire family back to the store so she could apologize. She managed a passable apology after a spanking from her grandfather, eventually, she came around to a real apology after working a morning in the store with me."

"Why do you think she finally apologized?"

"I worked at making her my friend and then I explained to her how her stealing affected me. She may have a tough exterior, but she has a tender heart. She's been passed around a bit of late. I think Adam took over the job of watching over her and then when he was injured I suspect Mr. Cartwright took the lead and now you. It's bound to be a bit unsettling for her."

"I'm not sure I'm up for the job."

"Ah, you'll be fine after a while. You had a good father, didn't you?"

"The best," John said nodding.

"Then all you need to do is take a moment and try to do what your father would have done. I can tell you that has saved me a time or two when I was at a loss. When I was a new father and just getting my feet under me about how to respond when Jenny was naughty, I would send her to the corner until I decided what I was going to do. I began to realize why my father and my mother too sent me to the corner so much." He laughed and John joined him.

"I spent a good portion of my young life in the corner as well, maybe for the same reason," he laughed again. "At least I can learn from Ruth."

"I wouldn't count on Ruth, Dr. Fellows."

"John."

"John…" Jim said nodding. "I think Ruth has not been much of a disciplinarian with Sally. I don't think her grandfather has either. From what I gather, the first spanking Sally ever got was in my storehouse out back the day that she stole the wooden horse."

"She's eight."

"Yes, she's eight, you are going to have your work cut out for you."

John threw himself back against the back of the bench, "Any suggestions?"

"A few," Jim laughed. "The most important being, don't get too tough with her. Don't demand too much too quickly. You'll be new to being a father and if you make too many rules, she'll be in trouble with you all the time: not a good start to your relationship. Not to mention that as a new husband, you are going to be slightly distracted by Ruth," he grinned. "If you can make her like you and enjoy being with you, she's going to be more likely to behave. Don't be afraid to ask for advice from the Cartwrights either. Their Lizzie is a gem. I've picked up a thing or two from watching Adam with Lizzie. I don't know how much help I can be, but I'm happy to do what I can. The other thing I would tell you is that I expect handling Sally is going to fall mostly to you. It is the same in my household. My wife, Lily, is really good at disciplining the children when they are out of line, but she has a tendency to defer to me when I'm around to handle things," he shrugged "comes with being head of the family, I guess."

"Well, from what I heard a few minutes ago, you have it figured out."

"Trial and error, man, trial and error."


	45. Adjusting

Joe guided the horses out of town before he turned to Sally, "So, what do you think about Dr. Fellows and your mother? You're going to have a whole new life here and a new pa."

Sally shrugged and looked out the side of the wagon and kept her eyes there until they arrived back at the Ponderosa.

She ran up the stairs and glanced into Adam's room before throwing herself on her bed so hard that one of the slats fell, causing a corner of the bed to fall to the floor with a crash. Lizzie and Adam jumped with a start.

"Lizzie, will you ask Sally to come in here, please?" Adam asked, easing himself to a sitting position against the pillows.

Lizzie walked across the hall to see Sally still lying on the collapsed bed.

"My papa wants to see you," she said from the doorway. Sally stood and followed her to Adam's bedroom.

"Sally, what was that crash I heard?"

"The bed fell," she said timidly and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

Adam saw how sad Sally was and turning to Lizzie, he said, "Lizzie, honey, will you excuse us please? Close the door behind you."

Lizzie glanced at her father and then at Sally before leaving the room, closing the door behind her.

"Come over here, sit next to me. That's right," he encouraged, "come around to the other side of the bed. I haven't seen you since the accident. Pa told me you were a great help. I want to thank you for that."

Sally looked up at him surprised and nodded as she climbed up on the bed next to him.

"So, what happened in there?" He asked as he motioned with his head towards the door.

"The bed fell."

"How did the bed come to fall?"

"It happened when I got on it."

"Did you maybe get on it a little bit harder than you normally do?"

"Maybe…"

"Sally, you weren't jumping on the bed were you?"

"No," Sally looked up at him quickly "I wasn't, I promise," Sally said, looking a bit scared.

"I believe you, honey," Adam said, seeing that she was telling him the truth. "Did you maybe throw yourself on the bed?"

"Maybe…"

"Did something happen in town? Is everything all right with your grandfather and your mother?"

"I didn't see Grandpa…" Sally said, looking down at her hands.

"Your mother?"

"She's getting married," Sally whispered.

Adam frowned trying to figure out whom Ruth could possibly have met in the short time she was in town when it dawned on him. "To Dr. Fellows?"

Sally nodded.

"So you're going to be staying in Virginia City," Adam said excitedly. "That's great news, isn't it?'

Sally shrugged.

"You'll have a new papa and you already have friends here."

"I do?"

"Sure, there's me and Lizzie, my pa and my brothers, Jenny, Mr. Mason and now Dr. Fellows. I'm sure you'll get to know the rest of the town in no time."

"I want to go back to San Francisco!"

"What's in San Francisco?"

"My house and my things and grandpa."

"I am sure that your grandpa will come to visit and your things will be moved here," Adam said reassuringly. "What about friends?" he asked softly.

Sally shrugged.

"You have a lot of friends here already, so I think once you settle in, you are going to think the move is a chance to start fresh." Adam reached out and patted her leg.

Sally nodded.

"Do you know that I had two stepmothers when I was growing up?" Adam nodded. "And loved both of them a lot once I gave them a chance. I'll bet you'll feel the same way about Dr. Fellows. It will be nice to have a papa all your own, don't you think?"

A knock on the door was followed by Ben coming into the room accompanied by Dr. Fellows. Sally quickly got up and before Adam could say anything, she scooted out of the room.

John watched her go and then stepped over to the bed.

"I hear congratulations are in order," Adam said smiling.

Dr. Fellows smiled and then glanced at the door, "Thank you, I will be very proud to have Ruth as my wife and Sally as my daughter."

"Nothing like a ready made family."

"Yes, I'm not sure I'm ready for that, but yes."

"I saw you with Sally in her mother's room at the hotel, I think you are just what Sally needs." Ben said reassuringly.

"I'm going to remember you said that and be coming to you for advice, Mr. Cartwright."

"I'll be happy to help, but I don't think you'll need much advice from me. As I said, I saw you with Sally."

Dr. Fellows carefully removed the bandages and gently probed the bullet wound before feeling the pulse in Adams wrist and asked him to move all of his fingers.

"Adam," Dr. Fellows said, looking up at his patient, "you seem to be healing amazingly well, there's hardly any swelling and considering that you are sitting up, you must not be in too much pain."

"I'm under the influence of Hop Sing's tea, but I do feel better than I thought I would."

"Well, don't do too much, stay in bed, and I expect you'll continue to heal quickly."

"Thank you doctor," Ben said.

"I'd like to take a look at Lizzie too," Dr. Fellows said as he gently rewrapped Adam's arm.

"Of course," Ben said, ushering Dr. Fellows from the room and leading him to Lizzie's room. "I'm not sure where Lizzie is, but she might be in her room."

The two men walked into Lizzie's room and found her lying on the bed reading.

"Well, Miss Cartwright, your back must not be giving you too much trouble if you aren't in pain lying on your back like that. Let me have a look."

Lizzie laid her book down and obediently stood up, turning her back to the doctor. He unbuttoned the back of her dress and gently parted it so he could look at the bruising.

"Your back is still pretty bruised up, how does it feel?"

"It hurts when I lean back on hard things like chairs, but it's all right on the bed."

"How's your eye feeling? You have quite a shiner." He asked as he buttoned her dress back up. He turned her around and began to gently probe her cheek and eye. "Anywhere else hurting more today?"

"Not really," she said shyly, folding her hands.

"Elizabeth," Ben said sternly, recognizing she was hiding something.

Dr. Fellows glanced up at Ben's frowning face and said, "It's not good to hide things from me, Lizzie, you need to tell me what's hurting so I can help. It's only going to get worse if we don't do something about it now." Dr. Fellows put his hands on her shoulders.

Lizzie slowly held out her hands to show him the scratches that had started to swell.

"How did this happen?" he asked as he probed the wounds looking for signs of infection.

"When I fell on the ground and then holding the reins," Lizzie said hissing as he touched her hands. She involuntarily tried to jerk her hands away from his strong grasp. "Please, that hurts," she cried.

"All right, we're going to have to wash those wounds and I'm going to have to put some carbolic acid on them," he said as he pulled a soft brush out of his bag and a bar of lye soap.

"It's going to hurt, isn't it?" Lizzie said with a tear in her voice.

"Yes, a little bit. I saw those scratches last night, but they look a lot worse today, so we're going to have to make sure we get them clean and treated," Dr. Fellows looked up at Ben. "Is there water in the pitcher?"

"I'm sure there is doctor, what can I do?" Ben asked, stepping forward.

"Nothing to help me, thank you, but Lizzie might like to be held. Come on Lizzie, let's get those hands taken care of," he said, as he softly put a hand on her shoulder and steered her over to the washbasin.

Ben crouched down on the floor and put his arm around Lizzie's waist as Dr. Fellows said, "I'll take care of this as quickly as I can," he reassured her. With those words, he poured some water in the bowl, soaped the brush and took a firm hold on her wrist. As he started scrubbing her hand, he said, "I saw the beautiful palomino in the corral out front. Do you ride horses?"

Lizzie danced in place as her grandpa held her.

"I remember the first horse I ever rode," Dr. Fellows continued when she didn't respond. "It was an old sway back chestnut that my father had retired from working the farm. My dad used to call him braw. Do you know what braw means?" He kept up a steady chatter as he scrubbed first one then the other hand. "It means fine or excellent. I couldn't see how that horse could be braw considering the state he was in, but my dad was a good judge of horseflesh, so I knew that horse must have been something in his day. You were braw the day you got these wounds. Wouldn't you agree, grandpa?" As Lizzie turned to look at her grandpa, Dr. Fellows quickly dowsed each hand with carbolic acid and followed it with witch hazel tonic he had brewed with wolfsbane. Then he quickly released her wrist. Lizzie cried out when the carbolic acid hit her hands and she quickly pulled her hands to her chest and cradled them, one on top of the other, blowing on them to ease the sting.

"All done, Lizzie. I don't think we'll have to do that again, but Mr. Cartwright, I want you to keep an eye on those hands to be sure they don't get any worse. You were a very brave patient, Lizzie. You did really well," Dr. Fellows said as he reached out to stroke her hair and gave her a smile.

"Thank you, Doctor, would you consider staying for dinner? It would give a chance to get to know the family." Ben said as he stood and patted Lizzie's shoulder

"If I haven't worn out my welcome. Is it all right if I stay, Lizzie?" Dr. Fellows winked at her.

Lizzie nodded and smiled.

"Hands are feeling better, huh?" He smiled when she nodded. "It would be my pleasure, thank you Mr. Cartwright."

"What did you do?" Lizzie asked in wonder. "My hands were really hurting and now I can't hardly feel anything."

"Doctoring magic, I'm glad it worked so well." He smiled at her again and followed the two of them out of the bedroom.

Downstairs, Hop Sing had Sally setting the table.

When he saw Ben, Lizzie and Dr. Fellows he said, "Dinner ready, you sit," and he bowed.

Ben directed Dr. Fellows to the spot next to Sally that Ruth normally took and Lizzie and Joe ended up next to each other with Ben at the head and Hoss and the foot of the table.

Dinner began quietly as everyone began passing the dishes of food, until Sally decided to pass the peas on to Dr. Fellows without taking any.

"Sally, honey, I want you to take some peas," Ben said.

"But I don't like them," Sally whined.

Dr. Fellows sat watching the interplay, when he heard Lizzie say under her breath, "Brat."

Ben frowned at Lizzie before turning to Sally and saying, "I'm sorry you don't like peas, eat those tonight and we'll try to have something you like better tomorrow night." He gestured at her plate and then flicked his eyes at John, who took the hint and heaped a couple of spoonfuls on her plate.

Meanwhile, Joe leaned over and whispered in Lizzie's ear, "You are not helping. You need to keep those thoughts to yourself."

"But Uncle Joe," Lizzie whined.

Joe reached out and put a hand on the back of her neck and said even more quietly, "If you can't be pleasant, then I'll take you upstairs and put you to bed."

Lizzie sighed and started eating her dinner, not looking up at Joe. He left his hand on her neck for a moment longer before giving it a squeeze and turning back to his own plate. Sally sighed indicating to Ben how put upon she was to have to eat the peas, but she too, began to eat.

John sat in stunned silence, unsure at what to do next, his eyes shifted from Ben to Sally to Joe and then to Lizzie. He finally began spooning peas on to his own plate, when Joe said, "Lizzie, no pouting," he leaned over and nudged her with his shoulder. "I hear Dr. Fellows was raised in Philadelphia, I hear there's a bell there."

Lizzie kept her eyes on her plate until her Uncle Joe nudged her again. "Go ahead," he whispered in a stage voice, "ask Dr. Fellows about the bell."

Lizzie got a smile on her face, when Ben turned to Sally and said, "So, Sally, Dr. Fellows was raised in Philadelphia, I hear they have a bell there."

"You know, Pa," Hoss chimed in, "Dr. Fellows grew up in Philadelphia, did you know they have a bell there?'

"Why, no, Hoss, I hadn't heard. A bell? You don't say," Ben said with a smile on his face.

Lizzie started to giggle, then she looked up from her plate and said, "Dr. Fellows, I heard that you grew up in Philadelphia, I hear they have a bell there," and everyone began to laugh.

Dr. Fellows smiled and said, "A bell? Really? You think I'd have heard about a bell," he frowned and shook his head. "I didn't grow up there, I just went to medical school there, so maybe that would explain me not knowing about the bell."

"What bell are they taking about? Do you really not know?" Sally asked earnestly, looking around the table and frowning.

"We're just joking, Sally. The bell they're talking about is called the Liberty Bell. It got a crack in the first time it was rung. They tried to fix it a couple of times, but it just kept cracking," he pointed at Sally's plate with his fork. "Better eat your peas, Mr. Cartwright had that pa look on his face. I learned from my pa pretty early on that I never wanted him to go past just giving me the pa face because the next step after the pa face was what he called consequences. I never like consequences. I guess I'm going to have to practice that look, huh?" He twisted his face into a grimace and asked, "How am I doing, does this look like a pa that means business?"

"No," Sally giggled.

He crossed his eyes and said, "Young lady, eat your peas."

Sally laughed again and took a forkful of peas.

"Ah, that one worked. I'll have to remember that."

Everyone at the table laughed and finished their dinners. As they stood up from the meal, there was a knock on the door. Little Joe went to answer it, and let in Sheriff Coffee.

"I'm sorry to interrupt dinner, folks, but I got word from the circuit judge that he would be here day after tomorrow and I can't wait much longer to hear from Lizzie and Adam about what happened. Doc, are your patients up to talking to me?"

"Yes, sheriff, I think they are," Dr. Fellows responded.

"Well, Lizzie, will you come talk to me?" Roy Coffee asked as he squatted down and held out his hand to her.

Lizzie took a step back and wrapped her arms around her grandfather's waist.

"Ben," Roy asked as he stood, "is there somewhere quiet we can go to talk?"

Ben put his arm around Lizzie and looking down at her, he said, "Perhaps Lizzie's room." When he felt her tense, he said, "Maybe the front porch would be better."

He felt Lizzie nodding against his leg and glancing down at her, he said, "Lizzie, honey, come on let's go out and talk to the sheriff."

"Would it be all right if Uncle Hoss comes with me?"

Hoss glanced up at his father with a frown and he tried to understand why Lizzie wanted him with her.

"Of course, honey, you can have whoever you want with you."

"Are you mad?"

"Now why would I be mad? I think you asking your Uncle Hoss to come with you is a fine idea."

"'Course," Hoss said and walked over to where she was standing and extended his hand. "I'll be happy to go with you."

She took his hand and together they walked to the front door followed by Sheriff Coffee. On the front porch, they each took a seat. Lizzie sat very close to Hoss and he draped his arm over the back of the bench on which they sat.

"Lizzie," Sheriff Coffee began as he sat back in his chair. "If I was to tell you that I was the sheriff of Carson City. Would that be the truth or a lie?"

Lizzie glanced up at Hoss and he nodded at her.

"A lie," Lizzie said looking at her hands.

"Good girl, you're right, that would be lie, and it's never good to tell a lie, is it?"

"No sir," Lizzie said to her hands.

"All right, Lizzie," Sheriff Coffee began quietly in a reassuring voice, "I know you know what the truth is and I expect you to tell me nothing but the truth. Do you think you can do that?"

"Yes, Sir," Lizzie said.

"Promise?"

"Yes, Sir," Lizzie said again.

"Roy, if I could stop you just a minute here," Hoss said, putting his hand on Lizzie knee. "Lizzie, you ain't the one in trouble here," he said to the top of her head. "You're doing the right thing and you ain't gotta feel ashamed or embarrassed about telling what happened. You just hold your head up and tell the truth and as your grandpa says, shame the devil." He rubbed her leg as Lizzie nodded.

"Your uncle's right," Sheriff Coffee said. "You're doing the right thing and you should be proud."

When Lizzie looked at him, he continued, "All right, now you tell me what happened that day. I'm going to ask you questions and you just tell me what happened."

"Yes, Sheriff Coffee," Lizzie said and Hoss patted her knee and nodded at the sheriff.

"So when did you meet Mr. Green?" The sheriff began.

"Yesterday at the branding," Lizzie said bravely, holding her head up and looking him in the eyes. She felt Hoss's hand patting her leg again and when she looked up at him, he smiled at her.

"Did something happen at the branding?"

"Yes, we were branding like always, but Mr. Green decided that I was in the way, Papa said I wasn't, but Mr. Green did and when he started picking on me, Papa fired him. Mr. Green was really mad about that."

"Then what happened?"

"We worked the rest of the day and then Papa and I were cleaning up, making sure nothing had been left behind and we were in the wagon heading back to the Ponderosa when Mr. Green came riding down the road and he shot Papa," Lizzie finished with a hitched cry.

"You're sure it was Mr. Green who shot your papa? It couldn't have been anyone else?"

"I'm sure, when he ran out of bullets, he threw the gun away and started fighting Papa, but Papa was a better fighter and then I tied Mr. Green up and I had to drive the wagon 'cause Papa couldn't use his hands."

"You tied Mr. Green up and drove the wagon?"

"Yes, Sheriff, I had to 'cause Papa couldn't"

"You really are a Cartwright aren't you?" Sheriff Coffee said softly.

"She sure is Roy," Hoss chimed in as he patted her leg again.

"Anything else you can remember?"

"Mr. Green said he had killed Papa and he was going to kill me. I told him he was going to go to jail. He is going to jail, isn't he?'

"Yes, Lizzie, you and your papa will go to the judge and tell him what happened and I expect he'll send Mr. Green to prison."

"I have to tell the judge? Can't you tell him what happened?" Lizzie asked with wide eyes.

"I wasn't there Lizzie, the judge needs to hear what happened from the people who were there. That's you and your papa."

"Will Mr. Green be there? Will he get to tell what happened?" Lizzie stood up and walked towards the railing, putting her back to the men.

"Yes, Lizzie, Mr. Green will be there and he'll get to tell his side of the story if his attorney wants him to." Hoss and Sheriff Coffee exchanged worried looks.

"Yes, sir," Lizzie nodded and turned back to face them. She was trying to be brave, but her lip was trembling.

"All right, Lizzie, I'm going to go inside to talk to your papa and then day after tomorrow you and he will come to the trial. You tell the judge what happened, just like you told me, and everything will be fine."

The three of them walked back into the house and Lizzie went over to Ben and climbed into his lap. Dr. Fellows was showing Sally some slights of hand that he had learned.

Hoss said, "Come on Roy, I'll take you up to Adam's room." Roy turned and followed him up the stairs.

"How did it go?" Ben whispered in her ear.

"It was fine, Grandpa," Lizzie said distractedly, as she leaned back against his chest and closed her eyes.

Hoss came back down the stair and threw a worried look at Ben before he dropped on the to the couch next to Joe. Ten minutes later, Roy came down the stairs and thanked them before heading out the door.

Ben scooped a sleeping Lizzie up in his arms and stood. "Sally, time for bed." He said softly.

"Can't I stay up a little longer and talk to Dr. Fellows?"

John smiled as he said, "I'll see you tomorrow, Sally. It's getting late and little girls should be in bed."

"I'm not a little girl!" Sally shouted and jumped to her feet.

"Sally, watch your tone," Ben growled. "Hoss, will you help Sally get ready for bed, once she's apologized for shouting at our guest?" He turned and carried Lizzie up the stairs.

"I'm sorry, Sally, I didn't mean to offend you. I know you're not a little girl anymore."

"What do you say, Sally?" Hoss asked putting his hand on her shoulder.

Sally looked up at Hoss, before she turned to Dr. Fellows and said, "I'm sorry I shouted at you, but I'm not a little girl."

I know, Sally…" Dr. Fellows started, but he stopped when Hoss held up his hand.

"Sally," Hoss said, taking a seat on the couch and turning her to face him, "apologies never come with a but in them. Dr. Fellows has already apologized for calling you a little girl. You need to apologize to him for shouting at him and being rude. Try it again without the but. Can you do that?"

Sally squinted her eyes at him, but he held her gaze and gave her an encouraging smile. She finally turned and said, "I'm sorry I shouted at you, Dr Fellows," then when Hoss leaned forward and whispered in her ear, she said "and I accept your apology."

"Forgiven and thank you" John said, "Sleep well."

Hoss picked Sally up and threw her over his shoulder and she laughed.

"Night, Sally," Joe called over his shoulder as Hoss carried her up the stairs.

"What have I gotten myself into, Joe?"Dr. Fellows asked as they watched Hoss and Sally go up the stairs.

"You've got yourself a daughter, John," he laughed uproariously.

Joe would sober up, but then he would look at John and start to laugh again.

"What's so funny?" Ben asked as he came down the stairs a few minutes later.

"John's got himself a daughter," Joe laughed.

"Yes, you do John."

"I really appreciate you asking me to dinner tonight, Mr. Cartwright, you made me see how ill equipped I am to be a father."

Ben walked across to his chair and sat before he spoke, "Seemed to me you had Sally well in hand tonight."

"Are you kidding me? I was running as fast as I could tonight and you and your family left me in the dust with her."

"I'm not sure I understand," Ben said, shaking his head.

"The peas? Calling her a little girl?"

"Those are minor things," Ben said waving his hand at him "that you'll figure out as you go. You had her laughing and talking to you and you charmed her with your magic."

"And what happens when I run out of magic?"

"It seems you had plenty to go around tonight with both Lizzie and Sally. You made a friend tonight, I heard Hoss asking Sally if she liked you or not and she said that you were fun and she liked your magic. I suspect she's thinking you might do all right as her pa. "

After a few more pleasantries, Dr. Fellows, Joe and Hoss headed to town and Ben climbed the stairs to his room, glad for the moments of silence. He checked in on Adam, Lizzie and Sally and finding them all asleep, he gratefully climbed into his own bed and fell quickly asleep. Three hours later he was jerked awake by the sound of screaming.


	46. The Trial

The scream tore through the house and Ben and Sally rushed to Lizzie's room, following Adam into the room.

"Lizzie, what's wrong?" Adam asked as Lizzie practically climbed up his neck. He cried out when she latched on to his wounded shoulder, but put his broken left arm around her back and held on to her. Ben rushed to the lamp and turned it up throwing quiet light into the room.

"Mr. Green, Mr. Green," Lizzie kept repeating as she panted against his shoulder.

"Lizzie, what about Mr. Green?" Ben asked, taking her shoulders and trying to ease Lizzie off of Adam's shoulder. His actions only caused her to clamp on more tightly to the back of Adam's nightshirt and Adam hissed and shook his head at his father.

Ben stepped back and glancing at Sally, said, "Sally, come on I'll tuck you back into bed; Lizzie just had a bad dream." He put an arm around her shoulders and led her out of the room.

"I don't think I can sleep now, Ben," Sally sighed.

"Perhaps a story then, we can sit in the rocking chair together," Ben said taking a glance back over his shoulder before walking her to her room.

Lizzie sat in Adam's lap for a long time, trying to catch her breath. As her breathing slowed, Adam asked, "Ready to tell me about the dream?'

"No."

"It'll make you feel better," he cajoled.

"No it won't," Lizzie grumped.

"Yes, it will Lizzie, when you keep secrets they just wear on you, if you share them, then they lose their power."

"Promise?" She asked, her face softening.

"I do promise you'll feel better if you tell me," Adam said soothingly and nodded his head.

Lizzie sighed, before saying, "Mr. Green came in my room and he said he was going to kill you if I told what happened in court. Then he said...he said... he was going to kill me too." Lizzie took a hitched breath and looked at him with wide eyes. "I'm not going to tell what happened, Papa, I'm not." Lizzie jumped out of his arms and stood with her back to him and her arms crossed.

"Lizzie…" Adam started.

"You can't make me!"

"Lizzie, I'm not going to make you. I'm not going to have to, I'm sure you're going to do the right thing and go to court," he said as he eased slowly back to lie on the bed, putting his back against the headboard.

"No," she said vehemently, wheeling around.

"Elizabeth Cartwright," Adam said quietly, shaking his head.

Lizzie frowned at him and said, "I don't like it when you call me that."

"I know you don't," Adam said as he nodded, "but I am calling you that for two reasons. First, I want you to know I am serious and second, that is your grown up name. I am asking you to do a really grown up thing and go to court. Everybody in the family has a grown up name that they use when they are doing serious, important things: Benjamin, Adam, Eric, Joseph, and Elizabeth, all of us."

"But, Papa, what if it doesn't work, what if Mr. Green doesn't go to jail?"

"Lizzie, have you looked at your eye lately? Or my arm and shoulder? Mr. Green did that to us, and you and I both need to go to court and make sure that he doesn't have a chance to do that to anyone else."

"But I'm scared," Lizzie whispered.

"I know you are. I know that's why you had the nightmare and I know that's why you don't want to go to court, but Elizabeth, honey, we need to make sure that Mr. Green is in prison, not out wandering around, maybe hurting other people. Not to mention, you know there are always consequences when you don't behave the way you should. Do you really think there shouldn't be consequences for Mr. Green for all the mean things he did to us?"

"I just want him to go away and leave us alone," Lizzie said as she came over to stand next to the bed.

"You are practically guaranteeing that he will go away, and leave us alone, if you go to court," Adam said, reaching out to take her hand.

"Really?"

"Yes, you and I will see to that together."

"Will you be with me when I have to tell what happened?"

"All of us will be with you, the whole family."

"No, I mean like Hoss was with me when I told Sheriff Coffee."

"You'll be up in a chair, that's called the witness stand and we'll be in the gallery, Elizabeth."

"I'll be by myself in the witness stand?"

"Yes, but the whole family will only be a couple of feet away."

"I'm not doing it," Lizzie said, pulling her hand free from his and stepping back from the bed.

"Lizzie, you have to be Elizabeth, you have to do what's right, even though it's scary. You can't run from this darlin'," he said quietly but firmly.

"Do I have to be Elizabeth right now?" she asked softly as she ducked her head.

"No, honey, come over here and lie down next to me and you can just be my Lizzie right now," Adam said as he held out his arm to her. She crawled up on the bed and snuggled her head against his chest.

"Are you scared that you're going to have to be Adam Cartwright?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Yes, honey, I'm nervous too."

"Why?"

"Same reasons as you. Mr. Green shot me and he broke my arm. I had to fight him. I'm not going to enjoy facing him again, but I'm going to do it because it's the right thing to do" he adjusted himself into a more comfortable position before he said, "but, do you know why I'm really getting on the stand, Lizzie?'

Lizzie shook her head against his chest.

"Because he hurt you. I want to see him pay for that," Adam said in a deadly quiet voice. "Now, I want you to get up and turn out the light and come lie down with me and try to sleep." As Lizzie turned off the light, Adam arranged the pillows so he was lying flat and Lizzie came and snuggled up next to him,

"Do you think you can sleep now, Lizzie?"

"Yes, Papa, but I'm still scared."

"You're safe here with me and you'll be safe in the courtroom too, all of us Cartwright men will see to that. You just keep your eyes on us and you'll be fine."

* * *

><p>"What happened to Lizzie?"<p>

"She had a bad dream, Sally."

"About what?"

"Well," Ben said picking up a book and pulling Sally into his lap, "I suspect that she is thinking about what happened during the branding and about having to testify against Mr. Green. Sometimes when people get really nervous about something, they have nightmares."

"Do you think I'll have nightmares about coming to live here in Virginia City?"

"Are you nervous about that?"

Sally nodded.

"Are you scared nervous or excited nervous?"

"Just nervous, nervous, I guess," she said, as she tied and untied the ribbons on the front of her nightgown.

"What do you think about, when you think about coming to live here?" He asked as he started to rock.

"I think about San Francisco and I wonder what it will be like to have a papa. I wonder if he'll be like you or Adam."

"Well, you got to know him better tonight. He's funny and he can do magic. Do you like him?" Ben asked raising his eyebrows.

"I like him, but he's different from you and Adam."

"I like him too and I agree he is different from us. I think he'll be a good papa," Ben said warmly.

"Do you think he's like Grandpa?" She asked timidly.

"No, I don't: grandpas and papas are very different. That's why you're lucky to have both."

They sat quietly rocking for a while, the book forgotten.

"Did I tell you he let me listen to my heart?" Sally asked, yawning.

"No! I'll bet that was exciting," Ben said as he rocked her.

"I listened to his heart too," she laughed, "he said it was beating really fast because he was nervous." She said quietly as her eyes started to close.

"He was excited nervous, I'll bet. He's excited to have you and your mother as his family."

"Yeah, that's what he said."

You are a very lucky girl, Sally; do you know that? I think you're going to be really glad to have a papa of your own."

"Mmmm, hmmm," Sally said, as she drifted off to sleep.

Ben stood with her in his arms and placed her in bed, kissed her forehead and quietly left the room.

Looking in Lizzie's room, he found Adam and Lizzie asleep. He pulled the sheet up over the two of them and returned to his own bed, where he fell quickly and deeply asleep.

* * *

><p>The court day arrived and Lizzie was a nervous wreck. She lay in bed staring at the ceiling, listening to the house coming awake and she just wanted to crawl under the covers and hide.<p>

"Come on Lizzie, it's time to get up and start the day," Ben said, as he came into her room.

"I don't want to Grandpa," Lizzie whined.

"Sorry, honey, you need to get up. Let's go," he said as he pulled back the covers.

He walked over to the wardrobe, "What do you want to wear today?"

"I don't care," Lizzie whined some more.

"How about the blue one?"

"I hate that one; I wear it all the time!"

"I thought it was new…the green one? You always look pretty in the green one."

"No," Lizzie grumped and pulled the covers up over her head.

Ben looked at the lump in the bed for a moment and then nodded his head and pulled out a pair of trousers and a shirt.

He walked over to the bed and pulling back the covers said, "Up," he scooped her up and put her on her feet.

"Here," he said, "put these on."

"I can't wear those to the trial," Lizzie said.

"You're not going to wear those to the trial, but we're going somewhere first and you need to wear these. Put them on, or do you need me to put them on for you?" He asked firmly.

"No, I can put them on," Lizzie said softly, recognizing the no nonsense attitude she was getting from her grandpa. She didn't see that side of him very often, but she had seen it often enough to know she needed to do as she was told.

Lizzie went behind the screen and changed quickly into the trousers and shirt.

"Good girl," Ben said and took her hand. He walked her quickly down the stairs and over to the breakfast table. Hoss and Joe were already up and pouring coffee when the two of them came downstairs.

"Hoss, make sure Sally is ready to go into town. Hop Sing said he will help with her hair this morning, she was complaining last night that she doesn't like it down. Joe, make sure Adam doesn't need any help getting ready. He said he can do it, but I think that his injuries are going to make some things difficult for him. Lizzie and I will be back in time for her to change her clothes. We're taking breakfast with us."

"Yes, Pa," they said in unison, wondering why he was acting the way that he was and what exactly he had planned.

Ben reached out and took four biscuits from the table, pulled them open and put some scrambled eggs and a slice of ham in each. He then grabbed a napkin, wrapped two of the biscuit sandwiches up, and handed them to Lizzie.

"Here," he said, "you'll eat these on the way." He then picked up another napkin and took the remaining two for himself.

"Let's go," he ordered.

"Grandpa, where are we going?" Lizzie asked as she clutched the napkin with the biscuits to her chest and jogged to keep up with his long strides.

"You'll find out when we get there. Now, eat your breakfast."

Ben marched her out to the barn, quickly saddled Buck, and lifted Lizzie into the saddle before he quickly swung up behind her.

"I want both of those biscuits finished, no stalling," Ben ordered.

"Yes, Grandpa," Lizzie said, nodding and starting to eat.

Ben put an arm around her and breathed a sigh of relief that she was eating. The day before had not been a good one. Lizzie had been difficult, quiet and brooding and Ben was hoping that what he was planning would get her to the trial in a better frame of mind. She was already responding to his authoritarian air and he planned to keep it up as long as it was working.

Ben took Lizzie a half a mile away from the Ponderosa to the base of a steep hill.

"Have you finished your breakfast like I asked?"

"Yes, Grandpa," Lizzie said, looking up at him and showing him the napkin was empty.

"Good," he said as he swung down from the saddle. He then reached up to lift her down.

"All right, " he said, squatting down, "I want you to run up that hill as fast as you can." He pointed over his shoulder.

"Why?" Lizzie asked, looking at the steep hill.

"Because I asked you to," Ben said, as he stood.

Lizzie turned and ran up the hill as he had asked; when she reached the top she turned and looked down at him. When he waved her back down, she turned and ran back down the hill.

"Think you can run up that hill again?" Ben asked with a smile.

"Yes," she said, looking determinedly up the hill.

"Well, go on," he said gesturing up the hill.

Ben had her run up the hill twice more before he said, "How are the nerves about the trial?"

She looked up at him with a surprised look on his face and then she smiled, "Better."

"Good, I thought you'd been cooped up a little too long in the house. I was hoping this would make you feel better. So, how easy was it to run up that hill?"

"It wasn't so hard at first, but that last time, I didn't think I could make it to the top."

"So, why did you keep going? Why didn't you stop?"

"Because you asked me to…"Lizzie frowned up at him.

"That's right, Lizzie. I asked you to and you did the right thing and minded me, even though it was hard and you didn't think you could do it, you did the right thing, and that's what you're going to do in town today. Even though it's going to be hard, you're going to use the same determination that got you up the hill that last time."

Ben reached out and hugged her to his chest.

"Do you think you're ready to go to town and do what you need to do?"

"Yes," Lizzie said slowly.

"You know, Lizzie," he said as he swung her into the saddle, "it probably won't take you any more time to testify than it did to climb up the hill the last time."

They rode quickly back to the Ponderosa and Lizzie ran inside, to find her family waiting.

"Lizzie where have you been?" Adam asked.

"Lizzie has been with me," Ben answered for her as he came in the door.

"Lizzie run upstairs and wash your face, put on a dress you like and come down here as quick as you can, all right?"

Lizzie ran quickly upstairs.

"Where were you, Pa?" Adam asked.

"Oh, Lizzie just needed to run off some nervous energy. She's been cooped up in the house for two days, and she needed to find her determination to see this day through."

When Lizzie came downstairs in her blue dress with the small delicate flowers, the whole family rode into town. Little Joe took Sally to stay with her mother and then he, too, joined the family in the gallery sitting next to Hoss. Lizzie sat as close to Adam as she could, and he had his arm draped around her shoulders. Soon, Sheriff Coffee brought Wayne Green in and sat him down next to his lawyer. He glanced quickly at the Cartwrights and then focused his attention on the table in front of him. Lizzie was called first to the stand and after a quick pat on her shoulder from Adam, she stood on shaky legs and walked to the witness stand.

"Elizabeth," the judge said as she got close to the stand, "Do you understand what you're supposed to do and what's going to happen?"

"Yes, sir, my papa told me."

"And what exactly did your papa tell you?"

"That I have to put my hand on the bible and promise to tell the truth and then I'm supposed to answer everyone's questions quickly and truthfully and then you'll decide if Mr. Green did something wrong or not."

"Good," he said and held out the bible, after she was sworn in, he said, "Have a seat." He gestured to the chair and she sat down. He looked at the prosecuting attorney and nodded his head before he sat back in his chair.

"Will you tell everyone your name please?" Mr. Williams started.

"Elizabeth Cartwright," she glanced at her family and saw them all sit up straighter and nod. That little gesture made her sit up straighter and look at Mr. Williams.

"Do you know the defendant?" he asked and gestured towards Wayne Green.

"Yes, sir," Lizzie said, looking at Wayne Green and then quickly away from him when he gave her a frown.

"When did you meet him?" Mr. Williams asked, shifting his body so that Lizzie's view of Wayne Green was blocked.

"The day of the branding."

"So, Wednesday of this week?"

"Yes, sir."

What happened at the branding?"

"We were working to brand the calves, but Mr. Green thought I was in the way and he wasn't working like he was supposed to, so Papa fired him."

"Did you see him again later that day?"

"Yes, sir, I saw him after Papa and I were in the wagon coming home. He shot Papa and then he threw away his gun and tried to beat up Papa."

"Did your eye get hurt that day?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Green slapped me and that made me fall off the wagon. I have bruises on my back too."

There was a horrified gasp from the gallery, followed by loud whispering.

"All right, settle down," the judge said, motioning with his hands, when the gallery quieted, the judge nodded at Mr. Williams to continue.

"Did Mr. Green say why he was shooting at you and your papa?"

"Yes, he said is was because Papa fired him. He said he was going to make us sorry."

"Thank you Elizabeth. I don't have any more questions."

He gave her a smile and took his seat back at the prosecution table.

"Hello, Elizabeth, my name is Jedidiah Smith," the defense attorney said with a smile as he stood.

"Hello," she said looking him in the eye, trying to keep her eyes off Wayne Green who was glaring at her.

"My job is to defend Mr. Green's actions and prove he's not guilty of what you say he's done. Do you understand that?" He said in an overly pleasant voice.

"Yes, sir," she said, nodding.

"Is it possible that you aren't remembering the way things happened? It was getting dark that night, is it possible that it wasn't Mr. Green that was shooting at you?"

"No sir, I saw him shooting and then throwing the gun away."

"Do you know what a lie is Elizabeth?" He asked changing tactics.

"Yes, sir."

"Have you ever told one?"

"Yes, sir," she said quietly.

"Why?"

"Judge, is this really necessary?" Mr. Williams asked as he stood up.

"There's nothing wrong with the question, Mr. Williams, but I'll caution you, Mr. Smith to go easy here," he turned to Lizzie. "Answer the question, Elizabeth."

"Because I'd done something wrong and I didn't want papa to know," she said looking at her hands.

"And what did you father do when he found out you had lied to him?"

"He punished me for lying and he punished me for what I had tried to hide from him."

"Are you sure you're not trying to hide something today, to keep yourself from getting you or your family into trouble?"

"Judge, this is totally out of line," Mr. Williams got to his feet again.

Before the judge could rule, Lizzie looked up at Mr. Smith and took a deep breath, "I don't tell lies anymore Mr. Smith," she said. "Papa said that the hurt you feel when you tell the truth is little shorter and less painful than the hurt you feel when you don't tell the truth. Papa said it's always less painful in the long run to tell the truth."

"I see and did your papa say anything else about telling the truth today?" Mr. Smith said, nodding condescendingly.

'Papa said that it's the judge's job to decide if Mr. Green should be punished for what he did, not mine, so I just need to tell the truth so the judge can make a good decision."

"No, further questions," Mr. Smith said quickly, taking his seat.

"You may step down, Elizabeth," the judge said solemnly.

Lizzie glanced up at her family to see a line of smiles. She got down from the chair and as she got to the line of men, each of them reached out to touch her and whisper that she had done well. Adam took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Joe, will you take Lizzie up to Ruth's room please?" Adam whispered.

"Sure, Adam," Joe replied standing and placing a hand on her back to guide her from the room. Lizzie was only too glad to leave the courtroom.

As soon as they were out the door and out on the street, Joe knelt down in front of Lizzie and enveloped her in a big hug. "You did really well, Lizzie. You spoke up; you answered all the question so well. I am really proud of you. The whole family is proud of you."

"Thanks, Uncle Joe. I was really nervous. Why do you think he asked me about lying? I swore on the bible I would tell the truth. Did he think I was lying?" Lizzie looked questioningly up at him.

"He was trying to rattle you, Lizzie, but you didn't let him did you? You told the truth and you took the wind right out of his sails. You did a marvelous job, honey. Come on, let's get you to Ruth's room so that I can get back to the trial."

Lizzie took a deep breath and let it out; it was over, she had done what she was supposed to do and she couldn't help feeling a little bit proud of herself.


	47. Jealousy

"How did it go?" Ruth asked as Little Joe and Lizzie came into the hotel room.

"It was scary," Lizzie sighed.

"She did real well," Little Joe praised Lizzie as he patted her on the back, "she spoke right up and told the truth and the whole family was really proud of her."

Lizzie smiled as she threw herself into a chair, "I'm just glad it's over."

"Over for you, I'm heading back to the trial, you mind Miss Brown and someone will come for you as soon as we can, all right?"

"Yes, Uncle Joe," Lizzie said as she swung her feet.

"Thanks, Ruth, are you sure you're feeling up to watching over the girls?" Joe said walking over to Ruth's bed.

"Yes, Joe. John went over to meet with the preacher about the marriage ceremony and then he was coming here. I'm sure we'll be fine and he said he wouldn't be long, so he'll be here if I need to rest."

"All right, see you soon, Lizzie," he said as he gave her a smile and wink. He put his hat back on his head and walked out the door.

"So, girls, what shall we do while we wait?"

"Will you tell us about the trial, Lizzie?" Sally asked eagerly.

"Well, I had to get up in front of a whole lot of people and tell what happened. I had to put my hand on the Bible and swear to tell only the truth. My family was in the front row, but I had to get up there all by myself."

Lizzie had just completed telling Ruth and Sally about her time in the courtroom when John came in quietly. He walked over to where Sally was sitting and pulled her into his lap.

"How did it go with the preacher, John?" Ruth asked.

"Well, I have news," he shifted Sally in his lap so she could see his face, "I'm not sure how you'll feel about it, but whatever you decide will be fine with me."

"Oh, no, what?" Ruth said, putting her hand to her mouth.

"Well, the preacher is going to be gone for a month. He'll be riding to other towns and performing services for them. He said we could get married tomorrow or we could wait a month until he returned to Virginia City."

He looked at Ruth expectantly and then down to Sally.

"Tomorrow?" Ruth asked, "That's so soon, John. I don't have a dress and I'm still not able to get out of bed for long periods of time."

"You're right, of course, Ruth. I tell him we'll wait," John said as he stood, putting Sally on her feet. "I'll be right back. A month will give you time to recover and to get all the planning done."

As he headed for the door, Ruth called, "John, no, I don't want to wait."

"Ruth, honey," he said as he came back and took her hand, "a month isn't that long to wait. We want to do this right. You want to be well and you want a dress and a beautiful ceremony and a reception. That takes time to plan. The month will fly by." He kissed her hand.

"John, all I really want is to be your wife. The other things aren't important. Please let's get married tomorrow."

"If that's what you really want Ruth," he searched her eyes, then he smiled.

"Sally girl," John said holding out his arm to her, "what do you think? Are you ready to be part of my family?"

Sally walked tentatively over to the bed and let John put his arm around her.

There was a knock at the door and John rose quickly to answer the door to find Joshua standing in the hallway.

"Ruth, how are you feeling?" He asked as he strode into the room.

"I'm getting married, Pa, tomorrow!"

"What?" Joshua asked, glancing from Ruth and then to John.

"The preacher says that he'll marry us tomorrow," she gushed.

"What's the rush? I'm not sure you…" Joshua asked with a frown.

"He's going to be gone for a month, Pa," Ruth interrupted, "and we don't want to wait," Ruth whined.

"Mr. Brown, if you'd prefer that we wait, we will," John said respectfully.

"John, no, he…" Ruth cried.

"Ruth, he's your father and we'll respect his wishes. If he wants us to wait the month then we will," John said firmly.

"Pa, I've waited so long for this, please don't make me wait any longer," Ruth pleaded.

"Ruth…" John started with a frown.

"No," Joshua interrupted him, and held up his hand, "I want you two to be happy and I'm not going to stand in the way of this. I do appreciate your willingness to accept my wishes, John." Joshua held out his hand and John shook it with a huge smile on his face. "I gave my permission for you two to marry and I'm not going to make you delay."

"Thank you, Sir," John said; smiling broadly and shaking Joshua's hand vigorously. "Come on, Sally, we have wedding arrangements to make." John leaned over to give Ruth a big kiss and he swept Sally up into his arms and twirled with her before he put her on her feet, took her hand and left the room with a big smile.

"Thank you, Pa," Ruth said, with a big smile on her face.

"I do want you to be happy, Ruth," Joshua said seriously.

"Congratulations," Lizzie said quietly.

"Oh, Lizzie, I'm sorry I forgot all about you being here. Thank you, I can't believe I'm going to be Mrs. John Fellows tomorrow!" Ruth lay back on the pillow with a smile.

Thirty minutes later, the Cartwrights joined Lizzie, Joshua and Ruth in Ruth's room.

Adam pulled Lizzie over to a chair as he came in the room, "You did really well, honey and Mr. Green is going to prison for what he did to us."

"He is?"

"Yes, he's going to go away and leave us alone, just like you wanted."

Lizzie looked up at all the smiling faces of her family and then turned and hugged her father.

"Well, good news all around then," Joshua said heartily, "Ruth and John are to be married tomorrow."

"What?" Ben asked incredulously.

"The preacher will only be here tomorrow and then he'll be gone for a month. John and I didn't want to wait." Ruth said excitedly.

"Well, it looks like the engagement party we were planning out at the Ponderosa will be a marriage reception!" Ben said smiling.

Thirty minutes later, John and Sally joined them.

"Ruth, I hope you'll be happy with what Sally and I planned," John said as he carried a big box into the room. "We found a dress for you and Sally. Mrs. Mason is going to bring flowers from her garden and the ceremony will take place at 11:00 right after Sunday services." He pulled off the top of the box with her dress in it and looked up at Ruth's face expectantly.

She beamed as she reached out to touch the dress. "Oh, John, it's beautiful," and she started to cry.

Joshua, reached in and put a hand on John's shoulder, pulling him up and to the corner of the room.

"It's usually the bride's father who pays for all these things, son, you aren't planning on cutting me out of that part of this wonderful day, are you?"

"I'm sorry, Sir, I never considered…"

"Well, boy," Joshua clapped him on the shoulder, "did you pay cash money for this, or did you get it on credit?"

"I put it on credit and planned to pay a little each month. Mr. Mason was very understanding," John stammered.

"Well, problem solved, son. I'll just go over and take care of that bill. I can't have my daughter married to a man with a pile of debt on the first day of her married life, now can I?"

"No, Sir, thank you," John said with an embarrassed smile. "I'm not a spendthrift, Mr. Brown, I just wanted the day to be special for Ruth. I'm not in the habit of incurring debt. I live within my means and I'll expect Ruth to do the same. It won't be at the level that you can provide, sir, but I'll do my best to see that she and Sally are happy and that they have everything they need."

"I'm sure you will, John."

They turned to see Sally holding up her dress for everyone to see and admire and Joshua clapped John on the shoulder again.

"I've never seen Ruth so happy, John. I think you'll make a fine husband for her and a good father for Sally."

"I love her, Mr. Brown, and I promise to do my best for them."

"Well," Ben said, "it's been a full day. I think we need to be getting back to the Ponderosa. Ruth, will Sally be coming with us or will she be staying here?"

"Mama, I want to stay here," Sally whined.

"Well…" Ruth said in an unsure voice.

"Sally girl, I think you should go to the Ponderosa with the Cartwrights. Your mother needs to rest and you did such a good job helping me with the arrangements, you should be somewhere that's more fun than this old hotel room." He wrinkled up his nose. "Will you do that for us?"

"But, I want to stay here. Mama needs to help me get ready for the wedding," Sally whined.

"Sally!" Joshua interjected sternly.

Ben could see Sally was working up to a tantrum, so he picked her up and said, "Sally, you're coming home with us tonight, we will come to town early and your mama can help you get ready." He looked around, "Let's go boys," and he strode out of the room.

Lizzie frowned when everyone left ahead of her and she dragged slowly out of the room closing the door with a bang behind her.

Little Joe turned quickly when he heard the door bang.

"What bee have you got in your bonnet?" He asked with a smile.

"Nothing," Lizzie grumped.

"Well that nothing sure sounds like something."

"It's nothing," she said again and ran down the stairs.

"Well, all righty then," Little Joe said, with a low whistle.

They quickly loaded into the buggy and headed for The Ponderosa. Adam very quickly fell asleep as Sally chattered on about the wedding plans. Ben, Hoss and Little Joe half listened to Sally and made encouraging sounds. Lizzie sat in the back seat with her arms folded and pouted. When they arrived at The Ponderosa, Sally took Ben's hand as she continued to talk to him about what was happening the next day, Hoss and Joe began to unhitch the horses and Adam made it into the house in time to hear Lizzie's door slam. He heaved a big sigh and started up the stairs after her.

"I'll talk to her, Adam. You've taxed yourself enough today. I'll have her come talk to you after you've rested," Ben said as he came into the house. He looked down at the little girl he still held by the hand. "Sally, I expect Hop Sing can find you something good to eat in the kitchen, why don't you go see what he has?"

"No, Pa, I should go," Adam said seriously as he watched Sally scamper off to the kitchen.

"Now, don't argue. I'll fill you in when you've rested," Ben said in a reassuring voice. "Do you need help getting into bed?" Ben asked as he helped Adam up the stairs.

"No, Pa, let me check on Lizzie."

"Adam," Ben said firmly, raising an eyebrow. "I said I would talk to Lizzie."

Adam held the stern gaze of his father before nodding and turning to go into his own room.

Ben walked into Lizzie's room to find her pouting on her bed. She had her arms crossed, a huge frown on her face and her chin to her chest.

Ben leaned against the door jam, folded his arms and frowned.

"What's wrong, honey. What are you upset about?"

"Nothing…" she said, never looking up.

"I don't think that's true. There's some reason why you're up here. What can I do to help?"

"Nothing's wrong," Lizzie said uncrossing and recrossing her arms.

"All right, if there's nothing wrong then you must just be feeling naughty. So let's talk about a few things," Ben said sternly. "We do not slam doors in this house, Elizabeth. You know that and you slammed not only your bedroom door but a door at the hotel as well. Didn't you?"

Lizzie kept frowning and didn't look up at him. He stood for a moment before he turned and closed the door quietly behind him. He walked over to the desk and pulled out the chair; moving it closer to the bed, he took a seat. Lizzie glanced at him worriedly and then returned her eyes to the bed.

"You're right to be worried. I asked you a question, young lady," Ben said as he crossed his arms again.

"What question?" Lizzie asked angrily.

"You know better than to slam doors, don't you?"

"Yes," she said curtly.

"After doing so well this morning, you're being pretty naughty now. You're adding sass to slamming doors, not answering me and having a near tantrum. As I said, you're right to be worried with me sitting in this chair."

"I answered you!" Lizzie protested loudly and glared at him.

"That's the second time you've answered me impolitely. You know better than to do that too. Go stand in the corner," he said and pointed with his finger.

"Grandpa!"

"Are you going to add disobedience to your ever growing list?" He asked seriously.

"No," she said and stomped to the corner he had indicated.

"When I give you permission to come out of that corner, I'll expect you to tell me exactly why you're angry. I suggest you find that Apache tear and think about how you're going to speak to me too, because I won't hesitate to put you over me knee."

"But Grandpa, you've never…" Lizzie said in a surprised voice, turning from the corner.

"I've never had to Lizzie, but if you keep this up, I will. Now, turn around and face the corner," Ben said quietly, gesturing with his finger. He stretched out his legs and folded his arms across his chest as Lizzie slowly turned to face back into the corner. When he heard the tears finally start, Ben called Lizzie out of the corner.

"Come here, Lizzie and tell me what's got you so upset," he met her as she came out of the corner and led her to the rocking chair.

"I'm not upset," she cried.

"Then why the tears?" He asked as he started rocking.

"Do you think I did good in court today?" She sobbed.

"Of course I do, you were very brave and you did really well. Is that why you're upset because you didn't think that we thought you did well?"

"You didn't tell me and then when you came into the hotel room all you cared about was the wedding."

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you how well I thought you did. I know your father told you though, first thing when he came into the room."

"No, he didn't! All he said was that Mr. Green was going to prison."

"I seem to remember it differently, but if he didn't tell you, I'm sure he meant to tell you. You did do well."

Lizzie snuggle closer to her grandpa's chest and the tears slowly stopped.

"Now, let's talk about the wedding and you pitching a fit."

"I didn't pitch a fit," Lizzie whispered.

"You shouted at me, you were disrespectful to me and you sassed me. If that isn't pitching a fit, I don't know what is."

"I'm sorry, Grandpa," Lizzie said looking up at him.

"I'm glad, but you're going to bed right after dinner tonight and when your father wakes up, you're going across the hallway and telling him how you spoke to me."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes, your papa needs to know what's going on in your life even if he is stuck in his bedroom," he cupped her face and stroked his hand across her cheek. "Let's talk about why, huh?"

"Why what?"

"Why the fit…"

"I don't know. I just felt mad."

"You know what I think? I think you were angry because you'd done a really scary thing and you didn't feel like people were paying enough attention to you about it. I think you wanted more congratulations and when Ruth announced she was getting married tomorrow our focus was on her instead of you and that made you angry. Do you think that might be true?"

Lizzie nodded slowly.

Ben put her on her feet and said, "Lizzie, honey, why did you testify against Mr. Green?"

"Because you and Papa said I had to," she said looking up into his eyes.

"Do you remember why we said you had to?"

"'Cause we had to make sure he went to jail for what he did and so that he couldn't hurt anybody else."

"That's right. Did you feel like he deserved to go to prison because of what he did to you and your papa?"

"Yes…" she looked at him unsurely; a bit worried that she wasn't answering the way that she was supposed to and trying to figure out what he was telling her. "He shouldn't have hurt Papa like that, he could have died, Grandpa!"

"You're right, he could have and because you did the right thing today, you made sure that Mr. Green paid for that and you should be really proud of that. The hard part is being satisfied with that feeling."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you should do the right thing and be proud of yourself for doing it and not go looking for other people to tell you how proud they are of you. Don't get me wrong, Lizzie. We are all very proud of you. You did a very brave thing. But you didn't do it so we could tell you how brave you are, did you?"

"No," she said uncertainly.

"You did it because you knew it was the right thing to do and because that's what Cartwrights do. We do the right thing even when it's scary. We don't do it because everyone is going to tell us how wonderful we are."

"But why can't I want people to tell me I did a good job?"

"You can and there's nothing wrong with that. What was wrong is pitching a fit when you don't think they're telling you enough. That's what happened today isn't it? We didn't tell you as much as you wanted."

Lizzie looked at him uncertainly.

"You think on that a little bit and I'll come and get you when your papa's awake."

An hour later, Ben knocked on Lizzie's door. He walked in to find Lizzie looking out the window.

"Are you done being angry?" He asked quietly.

"Yes."

"Are you ready to go and talk to your papa?"

"Grandpa, do I really have to?" She asked in an embarrassed voice.

"You're sorry about the way you behaved, aren't you? Maybe a little embarrassed?" He asked gently.

She nodded.

"Good, then you learned something today. You still need to tell your papa about what happened this afternoon, but you should also include how you're feeling about things now. Come on," he held his arm out to her and put it around her shoulders as she walked past him with her head down.

Adam was sitting up when Lizzie walked into his bedroom followed by Ben.

"Lizzie, I sure am glad the trial is past us, aren't you? You did really well today," Adam said with a smile.

Lizzie's eyes began to fill with tears and Adam looked up at his father with a confused face.

"Lizzie has something she needs to tell you," Ben said pushing Lizzie gently toward the bed.

"All right," Adam looked expectantly at Lizzie.

"I pitched a fit today."

"You did?' Adam said frowning.

Lizzie nodded.

"What else?" Ben prodded.

Lizzie looked over at him before she said, "And I was mean to Grandpa."

"How were you mean?" Adam asked seriously.

"I was sassy and disrespectful…and…and I shouted at him," she fisted her hands into a knot. "I'm sorry Papa. I'm sorry Grandpa," Lizzie said in a rush looking at Adam and then at Ben.

"Are things all right between you and your grandpa?"

"I think so…" Lizzie said, looking up at Ben.

"Why don't you go make sure," Adam said, motioning with his head to Ben who was leaning against the door frame. "Then you and I will talk about what happened this afternoon."

Lizzie walked over to her grandpa and looking up at him said, "I'm really sorry I was mean to you today and that I got mad about the wedding. Will you forgive me?"

"Always, Lizzie, I will always forgive you," Ben said as he knelt down to hug her.

"Thanks, Grandpa," Lizzie said as she hugged him around the neck.

Ben stood and said, "Now I am going to leave you two alone to talk. Lizzie's going to be going to bed right after dinner tonight. Right, Lizzie?"

"Yes, Grandpa," Lizzie said, nodding.

Ben squeezed her shoulder and turned, leaving the room and closing the door behind him. Lizzie turned slowly to look at her papa.

"Come over here," Adam said sternly. "I thought we were through with you throwing temper tantrums."

Lizzie walked slowly to the side of the bed.

"Well, what do you have to say?"

"I didn't mean it, Papa. I was just mad."

"Mad about what?"

Lizzie blushed and put her head down.

"Are you too embarrassed or too scared to tell me?" Adam asked with a frown.

Lizzie just nodded and then just stood in silence. Adam waited, but when no answer was forthcoming he finally relented.

"Come up here, it can't have been that bad if Grandpa is letting you off with only having to go to bed early."

Lizzie climbed on to the bed slowly and when Adam motioned for her to lie down next to him, she did and he draped his arm over her.

"All right, tell me what happened from the beginning. I know you were upset on the ride home from town. What was that about?"

Lizzie sighed, "Nobody cared that I had done good at the trial, all they cared about was the wedding."

"So, you were upset and took it out on Grandpa."

"I guess…"

"Lizzie…"

"Yes."

"Good, so what did Grandpa say to that?" Adam asked as he stroked her hair.

"That I shouldn't have."

"Lizzie," Adam said in an exasperated voice.

"He said…he said…that I shouldn't be upset that people didn't pay attention to me."

"About the trial, you mean?"

"Yes," she teared up again.

"Ah honey, everybody wants people to notice them and notice when they do something well, like you did today at the trial, but Honey, you can't just do things in the hopes that someone will notice and think well of you. There are going to be plenty of times when you're going to do the right thing and no one will notice or worse yet, they'll criticize you for it and those are the times when you gotta tell yourself that it's enough for you to do the right thing."

"Grandpa said I needed to just be proud of myself."

"Do you think he's right?"

Lizzie sat up, "But I like it when people tell me they're proud of me."

"Well everybody likes that," he reached out to tickle her, "but do you think it's right to throw a tantrum if people don't tell you they're proud of something you did?"

"I don't understand."

"All right, why do you think it's wrong to throw a tantrum?"

Lizzie thought a long while before she answered, "Because it's not a good way to show that I'm angry."

"Ho, ho, that was a very good answer!" Adam smiled. "So, today you wanted everyone to tell you that we were proud of you and instead of pouting and slamming doors, what should you have done?"

"Stayed quiet about it?"

"Nope."

"But you and Grandpa said, that I should just be proud of myself."

"That's right, Lizzie, and you'll get to the point where that will be enough, but if it's not enough, you have a family who loves and cares about you and when you're upset about something, you need to tell us, not pout and get angry and hope we figure out what's wrong."

"But what if you think it's dumb?"

"Has anyone in this family ever told you what you're feeling is dumb?"

"No…"

"I think you maybe you thought you shouldn't be feeling jealous, could that be?"

Lizzie looked up at him with wonder. When he smiled at her, she blushed.

"That was a pretty grown up thing to think."

"Really?"

"Yes, Elizabeth, really," he smiled again.

"Did you just call me Elizabeth because I was grown up then?"

"Yep," he said and nodded. "The thing is, you knew you shouldn't be feeling jealous that all the attention was on someone else, because it was pretty exciting that Dr. Fellows and Miss Brown were getting married tomorrow, right? Adam patted her knee. "It was pretty exciting, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Lizzie nodded.

"But you couldn't help feeling jealous that people weren't paying attention to you because you had done something pretty exciting too, right?"

Lizzie nodded.

"So instead of coming and telling one of us how you were feeling, you just got mad and you took it out on your Grandpa," Adam finished firmly.

"Yes," Lizzie said, looking down at her hands.

"Good girl," Adam said, nodding.

Lizzie looked up at him.

"It's hard admitting when you've done something wrong."

"Am I in trouble with you?"

"No, honey, you're not. Grandpa decided that you'd be going to bed early tonight, which I will tell you, young lady, is a lot easier sentence then I would have handed down. So, as far as I'm concerned, you've been punished by the injured party…" Adam saw when he saw the look on confusion on her face, "your Grandpa, he's the one you injured with your behavior, right?"

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said.

"All right. I want to talk to you about your jealousy. That was pretty selfish, you know."

"Selfish?"

"Yes, all you were thinking about was how your day went today. Have you thought about Sally's day? Her Mama's getting married tomorrow, a lot sooner than Sally expected, and she's going to have a new papa and she's going to be living in a new town. That's a lot for her to deal with."

He cupped her face and asked, "Do you know the best cure for selfishness?"

"No."

"Doing something nice for someone else. So, I want you to do something nice for Sally and help make her day better. I want you to go find her and play with her until dinner. Find something she wants to do…that won't get you into trouble." Adam winked at her. "Think you can do that?"

"Yes, Papa, I can," Lizzie said, nodding.

"Good girl, after dinner straight to bed, don't make Grandpa tell you.

"All right," Lizzie with a smile.

Now, Elizabeth, come give me a hug my grown up girl," Adam smiled at her as she hugged him and then skipped out of the room.


	48. The Wedding Day

Lizzie skipped down the stairs and walked over to where Sally was sitting on the floor breaking her cookies up into pieces and then eating just the raisins.

"Don't you like oatmeal cookies?" Lizzie asked.

"I just like the raisins," Sally replied.

"Do you wanna come out and play on the swing with me?"

"All right," Sally nodded, dropping the last of the cookie crumbs on the plate.

Ben looked up from where he was sitting at the desk. "Have fun girls. Do you remember the rules? Sally?"

"Stay within calling distance," Sally said, standing up.

"Good girl," Ben said distractedly, before turning back to his accounting books.

"Come on," Lizzie said, grabbing Sally's hand and pulling her out the front door.

Lizzie and Sally took turns on the swings and then Lizzie showed Sally how to swing really high and jump off into the pile of straw that her Uncle Joe had piled up for her. They finally wore themselves out and were lying in the straw watching the squirrels moving through the branches.

"Do you think you're going to like having a new papa?" Lizzie asked as she began to braid three strands of straw together.

"Dunno, I never had one," Sally said wistfully.

"I'll bet you'll like it. I like my papa lots," Lizzie said sincerely.

"I guess," Sally sat up. "How come you like having a papa?"

"I don't know," Lizzie thought hard, "He takes me riding and he reads to me and he takes me fun places."

"My mama does those things for me already," Sally said throwing herself back on to the straw.

Lizzie looked at her and thought some more, "He's really good at helping me not be scared of things," she said seriously, thinking over the last couple of days. "He calls me fair lady…" Lizzie lapsed into silence as she lay back down into the straw and tried to figure out what to tell Sally about papas.

"I just don't get why I need a papa."

"Papas are just different is all," Lizzie tried to explain.

"How?"

"I don't know. Jenny's pa lets her do things her ma wouldn't. He doesn't care if we get dirty; neither does my papa. Papa treats me different than ladies do. Sometimes he acts like I'm already grown up. He holds chairs for me like he does for Carolyn," Lizzie thought some more. "He gives good advice and he's good at explaining things and when I do things I shouldn't after he punishes me, he says its over and never brings it up again, lots of mamas don't do that," she thought some more, "he's a man and he's just different from ladies."

They lay on the straw in silence until Lizzie rolled over on her side and propped her head on her hand, "Haven't my papa and grandpa treated you different from how your mama treats you?"

"They're a lot stricter."

"I know, but good things too…"

Sally thought a while. "They tried to make me feel better after mama got hurt…Mr. Mason did too. Ben took me out riding with him when he went to see the tenants. He puts me on the saddle in front of him, I haven't ever done that."

"Papa took the splinter out of your finger," Lizzie reminded her.

"I got to play in the dandelions twice," Sally said, smiling, "and we played the bullfighting game, mama would never have done that."

"See I told you, papas are just different."

They lay silently in the grass after that until they heard Hop Sing calling them to dinner.

After dinner, Lizzie slowly cleared the table before she walked over to where her grandpa was sitting.

"Good night, Grandpa," she said shyly.

"Good night Lizzie, honey," he said with a big smile. "I'll be up to tuck you in."

Lizzie nodded and turning, said, "Good night, everybody."

Hoss and Little Joe reached out to stroke her hair and rub her back as she passed them, "Good night, Lizzie."

"Hey, how come you're going to bed so early?' Sally asked.

Lizzie stopped and glanced quickly at her grandpa.

"It's been quite a day, if not quite a few days for Lizzie, Sally. Lizzie's being very wise to recognize that turning in early is the right thing for her to do," he paused, "go on Lizzie, I'll be right up."

Lizzie turned and ran up the stairs quickly. She stopped at her father's door and walked quietly over to the bedside to see if he was awake. Seeing his eyes closed she turned to walk softly out of the room,

"Good night, Lizzie," she heard him say.

"Good night, Papa," she said coming back and climbing up on the bed.

"Did you have fun with Sally this afternoon?"

"We played on the swings. She asked me how papas are different from mamas."

"Oh, and what did you tell her?"

"That you're fun and that sometimes you treat me like a grown up and that you're good at helping me not be scared and you explain things to me and that you're just different from mamas because you're a man."

"Well, I guess that is a good an explanation as any, Lizzie," Ben said leaning in the door frame.

"She said you and Papa were stricter than her mama. Grandpa, do you think Dr. Fellows is going to be stricter than Sally's mama?" Lizzie asked as she hugged her father, whispered good night and climbed off the bed.

"One can only hope," Adam whispered.

"Well, Lizzie," Ben said putting an arm around her shoulders and leading her to her room, "I do think papas and grandpas are stricter than mamas. I'll bet Dr. Fellows will be the exact sort of papa that Sally needs, the same way your papa is just the sort of papa you need. Now change into your nightgown and climb into bed."

Lizzie quickly grabbed her nightgown and changed.

Ben pulled back the covers for Lizzie to climb under.

"I love you very much, Lizzie," Ben said and he stroked her cheek.

"I love you too, Grandpa. I'm sorry about how I talked to you this afternoon."

"I know you are, honey. Do you know how I know you're really sorry?"

"No," she said shaking her head.

"Because tonight, I didn't have to tell you to go to bed early. You cleared the table and you said good night and you went to bed. That means you accepted that you deserved to be punished for how you acted."

Lizzie looked up at him with a big smile.

"What are you thinking?" Ben asked her, as he raised his eyebrows and gave a half smile.

"It's pretty grown up to accept punishment, isn't it?" She asked earnestly.

"Yes, I suppose it is," Ben said thoughtfully.

"That's what Uncle Joe said too. Good night, Grandpa," Lizzie said closing her eyes and pulling the covers up to her chin.

"Good night, honey," Ben said, leaning in to kiss her. "See you in the morning." He reached over to turn out the light and walked out of the room with a bewildered look on his face.

"What's that look on your face, Pa?" Little Joe asked as they passed in the hallway.

Ben shook his head. "Something Lizzie said you said. Something about accepting punishment?"

"Oh, yeah," Little Joe said, taking a bit of the apple he had in his hand, "When she was in trouble the last time, you know when Adam made her stay inside for three days? I told her that the hardest part about being punished was accepting that you deserved it. She remembered that, huh?" Little Joe took another bite of his apple.

"Yes, son is seems that she did. You're going to make a good father some day, Joseph. A very good father." Ben clapped his on the shoulder and headed back downstairs.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Ben walked into Sally's room to find it empty. He began walking through the house calling her name.<p>

He walked downstairs to find Hoss and Little Joe already dressed and at the breakfast table, "Boys," he said, "have you seen Sally?"

"No, Pa, she isn't in her room?" Hoss asked.

"No, she is not and she should know better than to go outside without letting one of us know," he growled.

"We'll help you find her, Pa," Joe said wrapping a sausage in a pancake and standing up.

"Yes, we'll find that little gal for you," Hoss said.

Ben, Hoss and Little Joe fanned out across the yard, calling. Ben went into the barn and listened quietly. He thought he heard a stirring from the hayloft and climbed the ladder.

"Sally?" Ben called.

Sally jumped up and tried to run past him.

"Sally," he shouted, grabbing her arm.

She struggled to get away from him and he grabbed her other arm and shook her. "Sally, hold still!" Ben sighed when he saw that she was covered in dirt.

"What you have gotten in to? He frowned. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

"No!"

Ben didn't respond, he just threw her over his shoulder and started carrying her down the ladder. As he exited the barn, Little Joe and Hoss saw him carrying her.

"Joe, will you ask Hop Sing to bring some warm water upstairs? I need to get this child cleaned up enough that I can take her to town." Ben strode away without waiting for a response and carried Sally to her room.

"What were you thinking? You're covered in dirt and you need to be clean enough to attend your mother's wedding today."

"I was just outside playing…" Sally started.

Ben frowned at her and went to answer the knock at the door. He took the bucket, soap, towel and washcloth from a sympathetic looking Joe and closed the door with his foot.

"All right, let's get you cleaned up so we can get to town."

He poured a small bit of the warm water into a bowl and taking her by the arm, he pulled her over to the washstand.

"I ought to turn you over my knee. Sally, you know better than to go outside without letting one of us know and for me to find you covered in dirt…"he shook his head at her as he scolded and began to clean the dirt off of her face and hands. "Your mother is getting married today and you will be there. If you went outside thinking that you could keep the marriage from happening, you have another think coming."

After four fresh bowls of water, he figured Sally was about as clean as he could make her without a full bath. He then opened her trunk and pulled out the first dress he could find along with a slip. Without a word, he pulled the filthy nightgown she was still wearing over her head.

"Hold up your arms," he commanded. When she complied he put the slip over her head, followed by a blue dress.

"I don't like this dress," she complained. She looked up at his stern face, and shut her mouth abruptly.

"Well, you only have to wear it long enough to get to town. Your papa has bought you a new dress that you'll be wearing today, so I don't want to hear any complaints." He grabbed her brown boots and began to button them up.

"These are the wrong boots, Ben," Sally whined.

"Boot are boots and I don't want to hear another complaint, or I _will_ put you over my knee, wedding day or not." He took her hand and said, "Let's go," as he took long strides out the room, pulling her with him.

As he came downstairs, Joe and Hoss stood.

"I saddled your horse, Pa," Hoss said.

"Thank you, Hoss, I'll see you in town."

"We'll be right behind you, Pa. Lizzie and Adam are about ready to go," Little Joe said.

"Fine," Ben said gruffly and tugged Sally out the door with him.

He put her up on the horse and then climbed into the saddle behind her.

"You've made us both late because of your little escapade. I expect you to behave yourself and not complain when we get there about anything. Do you hear me?"

Sally nodded and Ben saw a tear crawl down her cheek.

Ben sighed and said, "Sally, I know none of this is easy for you, but it's going to happen, no matter what you do. I want you to try your best to behave so that your mother can have a happy day. Can you do that, please?"

"Yes, Ben," Sally said sadly.

"Good girl, I knew I could count on you."

They rode the rest of the way to town in silence. When they arrived in Virginia City, they went to the church to see if John and Ruth had arrived yet. Seeing the church still empty, Ben came out the door to see his family arriving. When Lizzie jumped out of the buggy, Jenny Mason came running over from the General Store.

"Lizzie, Lizzie," she called, running to the buggy "Ma and Pa wanted you to have this ribbon for your hair. I got one too, see?" She asked turning so that Lizzie could see. Lily Mason followed her daughter over to the buggy.

"Thanks Mrs. Mason," Lizzie said. "Will you put it in my hair for me?" She asked as she turned and pulled the ribbon that was already in her hair out and handed it to her father.

Adam smiled as he put the ribbon in his pocket and Lily Mason tied the ribbon in Lizzie's hair.

"Very pretty," she complimented. "Come on Sally, I was just about to go over and help your mother get ready. Would you like to come with me?" She asked holding out her hand. With a quick look at Ben, Sally took Mrs. Mason's hand and they walked to the hotel together.

John answered their knock and as they walked into the hotel room, Sally pulled her hand from Mrs. Mason's and ran over to the edge of the bed where Ruth sat.

"Mama, Mama, Jenny and Lizzie got new ribbons for their hair and Ben made me wear these ugly brown boots. I want my black ones and can I have a new ribbon too?"

Ruth looked overwhelmed by the barrage of words.

"Sally, I don't know. You have a new dress and I'm sure those boots will be fine…"

"Will you excuse us just a minute, ladies?" John asked, taking Sally's hand.

He led her out into the hallway and picked her up, depositing her on a bench that had a big mirror behind it and was surrounded by hooks to hang hats on. John grabbed on to the hooks and leaned in close to Sally.

"Sally," he said quietly, "this is a very big day for your mama. Wedding days are about the bride and you have a pretty new dress to wear, which is better than a new ribbon any day isn't it?"

Sally looked into his eyes and slowly nodded.

"Second," he continued, "your new dress is long enough to cover most of your boots, so the only person that will know they are brown instead of black will be you. So, as your almost papa, I expect you to go back into the room and not make another complaint and you're going to do that because you love your mama and want her to be happy, right?"

Sally looked down at the floor.

"You do love her, don't you, Sally?"

Sally took a deep breath and nodded.

"Good, then let's go back inside and make your mama feel like the center of attention because we love her. Can you do that?"

"Yes," Sally whispered as he lifted her down to the floor and took her hand.

John smiled down at her and said, "I am so glad that you're going to be part of my family, Sally. I'm a very lucky man to be getting not only a wife but a daughter today."

He squeezed her hand and asked, "Are you ready?" When she nodded, they entered the room. Sally ran over to the side of the bed.

"Are you excited, Mama?" She asked, taking a quick look at John.

"Very excited, Sally. I'm sorry about the boots and the ribbon."

"It's all right, Mama. I have a new dress anyway and people won't be looking at me, you're the bride."

John reached out to put his hand on Sally's shoulder and gave it a squeeze, before Lily started to make her way towards him.

"You are not allowed to see the bride in her wedding gown before the wedding. Sally and I will take care of Ruth. You go and find some male companions to spend your last few minutes of bachelorhood with," Lily said with a smile and made shooing motions with her hands.

John flashed a huge smile at her and planted a kiss on Ruth's cheek and then Sally's and hurried out the door.

Church services were just beginning as John made his way to the church. He slid into a back pew, but his thoughts were so on Ruth that he didn't even notice the service was over until people began to file past him.

"Ready to be a married man?" Little Joe asked with a laugh. John looked up to see all the Cartwrights standing around him.

"More than ready, Joe," John said standing.

"I never regretted a moment of any of my marriages," Ben said heartily.

"Neither did I, John," Adam echoed. "We're all so glad that you and Ruth found each other.

Joshua and the pastor soon joined them.

"Well, son," Joshua said as he slipped his arm around John's shoulders, "you'd best take care of my daughter and granddaughter or you'll have me to deal with."

"You have nothing to worry about, Mr. Brown. I will do everything in my power to take good care of both of them."

Joshua pounded his shoulder. "I know you will, son. I've already seen what good care you take of them. I'll be proud to have you as a son-in-law."

Lily came into the church and said,"the bride's ready gentlemen." John took a deep breath and followed the pastor to the front of the church, Lily and Jim walked in holding hands followed by Jenny and Will and the Cartwright family followed them to the front of the church. Hoss took Sally's hand when she came inside and took the front pew with her on his lap.

"I want you to have a good view," he whispered to her.

Joshua walked outside and smiled at his beaming daughter.

"You've found a good man, Ruth," he said taking her arm.

"I know, Pa, but I'm so glad to hear that you approve."

"You are beautiful and I am so proud to have you on my arm," he said and kissed her cheek. "Are you ready?" He asked as the music started and with a nod from Ruth, they walked to the front of the church where John was waiting for his bride.


	49. Making amends

Joshua followed the Cartwrights out to the buggy and lifted Sally up into the back.

"Joshua, there's no reason for you to stay at the hotel, why don't you come back to The Ponderosa with us?' Ben asked as he grabbed his shoulder.

"I was hoping you'd ask, Ben, I have my bags packed and it'll just take me a moment to check out."

"Good man," Ben said, slapping him on the shoulder.

"Papa," Lizzie asked as she climbed into the buggy, "is that what your wedding to Mama was like?"

"Very much like that, Lizzie." Adam said, nodding.

"Did you go back to the hotel afterwards?"

"No, we went to the house I built and spent the evening and then the next day we went to San Francisco for our honeymoon."

"What happens on a honeymoon?"

Adam smiled softly. "The husband and wife get to spend time alone, just the two of them."

"If they are just spending time alone, how come they have to go somewhere?" Sally asked from the other side of Adam.

"Because it's fun to get away and go somewhere," he said turning towards her. "You don't have to though. Your mother and John aren't. They are just spending time with each other. You're helping them do that, Sally, by coming back to The Ponderosa with your grandpa. That is a very nice wedding gift for them."

"You think so?"

"Yes, because you'd really rather be with your mother than us, wouldn't you?"

Sally glanced up to see her grandfather awaiting her answer.

"Yes," she said slowly.

"But you came with us, you held your grandpa's hand and you didn't say a single thing about not being happy to come with us. That's a gift I don't think you would have been able to give your mother when you first arrived in Virginia City. You should be proud of yourself for that," Adam smiled at her.

"Adam's right, Sally. You should be proud," Joshua said as he climbed in next to Ben.

"All right, let's head back to The Ponderosa," Ben said, slapping the reins.

Sally leaned back against the seat with a smile as Adam turned to Lizzie and began telling her about his wedding day.

When they arrived back at The Ponderosa, Sally quickly leaped from the buggy.

"Sally, before you get too far, I want you to clean up your room. Your bed needs to be made, the dirty water needs to be dumped out and that filthy nightgown needs to be brought downstairs," Ben said sternly.

"But, Ben…" Sally whined.

"Don't you whine to me, I'm not the one who went outside in her nightgown without permission. You just get upstairs and get busy."

Sally kicked at the dirt as she walked across the yard. She stomped up the steps and slammed the front door behind her.

"Ben, should I go and talk to her?" Joshua said in an irritated voice.

"Nah, Joshua, she's minding me and she's not throwing a complete tantrum, John and Ruth can work out the finer points of obedience with her."

"Papa?" Lizzie asked. "I know it's not bedtime, but would you read to me from Jack the Giant Killer? I can hold the book and turn the pages."

"That sounds like just the way I'd like to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon, Lizzie," he said with a smile, as they climbed down out of the buggy and headed indoors.

Adam and Lizzie walked up the stairs and stopped at Lizzie's room to pick up the book. As they passed Sally's room, they heard her slamming things down as she straightened her room

"You'd better not let Pa see you acting like that," Adam chided. "He's been known to spank for less."

"I'm doing what he told me to do!" Sally shouted.

"Yes, you are," Ben said as he came up behind them, "the _way_ you mind me matters too!"

Sally snatched up the bucket of dirty water and attempted to push past Ben, Adam and Lizzie, managing to dump a large portion of the water in the bucket on to Ben's boots.

"All right, young lady," Ben said taking her arm, "put that bucket down and go downstairs and ask Hop Sing for some rags to clean this mess up." Ben said in a low, firm voice.

"No," Sally shrieked, throwing down the bucket, barely missing Ben's feet. "I won't! You're not fair. I don't want to clean this up. You're the one that made the mess in the first place."

"Come on, Lizzie, I think it's time we did some reading," Adam said moving quickly towards his bedroom and herding Lizzie in front of him as Ben growled. "Close the door, honey." Adam called to Lizzie as he made his way towards the bed.

"Do you think Grandpa's gonna spank Sally?"

"I wouldn't be surprised, Lizzie. Don't you think she deserves it?" Adam asked as he settled back against the headboard.

"I don't know. She was minding Grandpa and doing what he asked," Lizzie said thoughtfully, climbing up onto the bed and settling against his chest.

"She was minding him, but she was throwing a tantrum too, and then right there at the end when she threw the bucket, she stopped minding him. Didn't you hear Grandpa when he said how she minds him matters too?"

"Yes…but she was upset."

"She was, but you and I both know there is a right way and a wrong way to show that you're angry, don't we?" He said as he patted her leg. "Tell me Lizzie, would you expect to be spanked if you were slamming around your room because you didn't want to have to clean it, after going outside this morning when you weren't supposed to and then dumping half a bucket of water on your grandpa's boots and throwing a bucket because you were upset?"

Lizzie nodded slowly.

"It's called asking for it, honey." Adam said. "Now sit up here next to me and so we can find out what happens next to Jack."

* * *

><p>Ben took the pail from her hands and closing the door softly behind him, said," I guess it's time for the paddling you've been asking for all day."<p>

Ben took her in one hand and set the pail down next to the bed with the other. Taking a seat he pulled her close to him and put his hands on her shoulders. "You, young lady, have been asking for spanking all day. This morning you went outside without permission and were covered in dirt, then this afternoon, you slam doors and stomp off after I asked you to clean up the mess from that morning's little excursion, finally, you throw water on my boots and refuse to clean it up. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I didn't mean to spill the water on your boots, Ben. I don't want a spanking!"

"Sally," Ben said gently, "you knew what was going to happen if you kept up your tantrum didn't you? You knew as soon as you decided to throw that bucket down and tell me no that you were going to be in trouble."

Sally shook her head.

"I even heard Adam warning you. You knew I haven't been pleased with the things you've done today and you knew if you kept it up, you were going over my knee, didn't you?" He pressed quietly.

Slowly, shaking of her head slowly turned to nodding.

"You're a good girl, Sally and I know you know how to behave. I gave you every chance today and you ignored every one of them."

Sally burst into tears and tried to pull away, but Ben kept a tight hold on her wrist.

"All right, honey, in the corner with you," Ben said as he led her over to the corner by the door. Ben sighed as he looked at the sight of his dress boots. He decided he was going to teach Sally how to polish them as soon as they got over this hurdle.

Ben sat on the bed and stretched out his legs. He folded his arms and listened to the angry crying, as he heard the tears slow and stop, he said, "Sally come over here."

Sally slowly turned from the corner and dragged her feet over to stand in front of him.

"Do you know why you're in trouble?"

"'Cause I got angry," she said.

"Hmm, mmmm," he said as he shook his head, "that's not why. You're allowed to get angry. Think about what happened today," he commanded.

"'Cause I disobeyed you this morning?"

"That's closer," Ben said reaching out to wipe a tear off her cheek with his forefinger. "Besides going outside without my permission this morning, what else have you done that was naughty today?"

"I yelled at you and threw the bucket," Sally said, looking up at him through her eyelashes.

"And what precisely did you yell at me?" Ben asked sternly.

"I yelled no…." Sally said looking down at her shoes.

"And what else?"

"I don't remember," Sally said, still looking at her shoes.

"Well, I remember! You blamed me for the state this room is in, Sally, even though you were the one that required the bath after defying me and going outside."

Sally looked up quickly at the word defy.

"Do you remember me telling you that the surest way to avoid being punished was to do as you're told?"

Sally nodded.

"Well, despite several warnings, you have repeatedly not done as you were told. You went outside, you threw a tantrum and you spilled water on my good boots."

"I didn't mean for that to happen."

"I know you didn't mean for it to happen, Sally, but the reason it did, was because you were throwing a tantrum," Ben said as he reached up under her dress to undo the ribbons of her pantalettes. "You are not in trouble for being angry. You are allowed to be angry," Ben pulled her over his lap and raised her dress. "You are not allowed to slam doors and throw things, but you're allowed to be angry. You need to learn how to show that you're upset in a better way than a tantrum. Any time today you could have told me how you were feeling and I would have listened. Instead," Ben said as he swatted her, "you find yourself over my knee." Ben followed the first swat with ten more just like it. "In the future, no more tantrums and when I ask you to do something, you need to mind me, even if you don't want to." Ben finished with two more swats and set Sally on her feet. He pulled her pantalettes up and tied the ribbon on each side.

"Now," Ben said, "it's time to get this room in order. Help me make the bed, Sally." Ben stood, walked to the other side of the bed, picked up the corner of the sheet and waited for the crying girl to pick up her side.

"Good girl," he praised her when she finally picked up the sheet corner. Sally wiped her eyes and nose on the sleeve of her dress and helped make the bed.

"Now, go pick up your nightgown and let's take it and the bucket downstairs," Ben said as he lifted the bucket and opened the door. Sally walked over to the nightgown, picked it up and wiped her eyes and nose on the gown as she continued to cry.

Ben put a hand on her shoulder, "Careful of the water," he said as he guided her around the puddle and down the stairs. They stopped in the kitchen to deposit the nightgown with the other laundry and then Ben guided her outside, where he handed her the bucket to dump.

"Put the bucket by the fire, honey," Ben said when she came back inside. When she did as he asked, he took her by the hand and led her out to the front porch where Joshua was sitting. Ben took his handkerchief from his pocket and sat in the rocking chair. Pulling Sally into his lap, he handed her the handkerchief and rocked her for several minutes.

"There's going to be no more tantrums, right, Sally?" Ben asked as he heard the tears begin to stop.

Joshua frowned at those words, but he kept quiet after a look from Ben.

"Do you hear me, honey?" Ben asked softly as he kept rocking.

"Yes, Ben. I'm sorry," Sally said as she started crying again.

"Well, I'm really glad to hear that, Sally, and I forgive you," Ben said. "Do you know that part of being sorry is making amends? Do you know what amends are?"

'No," Sally said softly as she shook her head.

"Well," Ben said taking the handkerchief from her hands, wiping her eyes and helping her blow her nose, "amends are doing something to try and make up for what you did. Can think of a way you might make amends?"

Sally sat quietly trying to think of something, "I can mop up the water on the floor upstairs."

"That's a fine idea, anything else?" Ben asked smiling and nodding.

"My boots look pretty sad," he prompted when she looked puzzled.

"Do you want me to clean your boots?" Sally asked looking up at him.

"Well, I think that's another fine idea, how about I show you how?" Ben asked, putting her on her feet. "Would you like to learn?"

"Yes, Ben," Sally said, nodding.

"All right, let's go get some rags from the kitchen and we'll mop up the water first, then we'll tackle my boots, all right?"

"All right," Sally said, reaching for Ben's hand.

"Afterwards, maybe we can convince your grandpa to come fishing with us," Ben said winking at her.

"I've never been fishing," Sally smiled, "Do you want to come with us, Grandpa?"

"Can't think of a thing I'd rather be doing," Joshua said with a slight hitch in his voice, "I'll be right here waiting while you make amends, all right?"

"All right, come on Ben," Sally said as she pulled him towards the kitchen.

"All right, Sally," Ben said with a laugh, "let's get the bucket and the rags and get the water cleaned up. Then I'll teach you everything you need to know about polishing boots."

As they entered the kitchen, Sally went over to pick up the bucket and then took Ben's hand again. Ben grabbed a couple of rags as they left the kitchen and they walked up the stairs, when they got back to Sally's room, Ben said, "Sally you mop up the water and wring the rags out into the bucket. Can you do that for me? I'm going to change my boots."

When Ben returned, most of the water was spread around the floor, but a little bit had found its way into the bucket.

"I got it all mopped up, Ben," Sally said seriously.

"Good girl, I see that, you've done a really good job. You take my boots and I'll carry the bucket, all right?"

"Yes, Ben," Sally responded as she stood up, throwing the rags into the bucket and taking the boots from Ben's hand, wrapping her arms around them to keep them from falling.

"We'll drop this off in the kitchen and get what we need for the boots," Ben said putting his hand on Sally's shoulder. After getting the box of supplies to clean his boots from the kitchen, Ben took Sally back through the great room, grabbing a couple of pillows off the couch before steering her out through the frond door.

"All right," Ben said, dropping the pillows on the porch and taking a seat in the rocker, "You sit there and I'll show you what I need you to do."

Joshua looked up at them as they came back onto the porch. Ben smiled at him and inclined his head towards Sally. Joshua took the hint and smiled at Sally before turning back to his book.

Sally watched attentively as Ben showed her how to brush and clean the boots and then she set to work. Lizzie eventually came to join them.

"Are you and your papa done reading?" Ben asked as he pulled her into his lap.

"He fell asleep," Lizzie sighed.

"Oh, Honey, I'm sorry, I'll read to you tonight I promise. I know if won't be the same, but your papa still has some healing to do and he needs his rest." Ben gave her a squeeze.

"I know, Grandpa, I just wish he was better already!"

"We all wish he was better. I wish your eye was better too," he said softly and brushed her hair back from her forehead. "Does it hurt anymore?" He asked, taking a closer look.

"Not so much," she said reaching up to touch her eye.

"Done, Ben," Sally said, holding up the cleaned boot.

"Now you need to use the polish, that's what the rag is for, take a tiny bit and rub it in really well," Ben directed.

"How come you're cleaning Grandpa's boots?" Lizzie asked.

"I'm making amends," Sally said seriously, never taking her eyes off what she was doing.

"Sally wanted to make up for spilling the water on my boots," Ben said, reaching out to stroke Sally's hair, when he saw the puzzled look on Lizzie's face.

"Oh," Lizzie said, leaning back against Ben's chest.

Sally set to polishing and used a lot more polish than Ben would have.

"Okay, I think that's enough polish," Ben said. "Now you need to take the rag and wipe it off."

Sally worked diligently but got only about half the polish off.

"Is that good?" Sally asked when she started to get tired.

"Really good," Ben said, "Now, why don't you and Lizzie take them upstairs to my room. You know where they go, don't you, Lizzie?"

"Yes, Grandpa," Lizzie said getting down out of his lap.

"And change your clothes, while you're up there," he called after them.

After the girls had run through the door, Joshua said, "Did you spank her, Ben?"

"I did," Ben acknowledged, folding his arms, as he continued to rock.

"I thought you were going to let the tantrum, excuse me, almost tantrum go."

"That was my intent, but when she spilled half a bucket of water on my boots and then threw the bucket down, I knew I couldn't let it go any farther. She needed me to reel her back in."

"Your boots were a bit of a mess, weren't they. I'm not sure the polished version is much better. I don't think I've never seen quite that much polish used on a pair of boots," he raised his eyebrows and laughed. "I'm not sure you're going to want to wear those the way she left them."

"The important part is that Sally feels like she made up for her naughtiness and she's been forgiven. My boots and I feel like that was a well spent forty five minutes, regardless of the end product."


	50. Sympathy

The girls came back downstairs. Lizzie was in her trousers and an old shirt and Sally was wearing a calico dress.

"Are you going to be okay if that dress gets dirty, Sally? Or wet?" Ben asked. "We're going fishing and you never know what might happen. You might catch a whopper and it'll drag you into the pond and get you all wet before we can fish you out."

Sally looked at Ben wide-eyed.

"Grandpa!" Lizzie said; then she giggled. "He's just teasing you, Sally."

"I was just teasing, Sally," Ben said, grabbing Sally and tickling her "about the whopper, not about the dress. I just want to be sure you won't be upset if the dress doesn't stay clean."

"I won't be upset, Ben," Sally said giggling as he tickled her some more.

"Promise?" Ben asked as he continued to tickle her.

"I promise," Sally said as she wiggled away from him.

"All right, Lizzie, you run to the barn and get the hooks and lines and then we'll go dig some worms."

"Worms? Ewww," Sally said screwing her face into a grimace.

"First time fisherwomen, don't have to put the worms on the hooks," Ben said, as he guided her down the steps, "That's what grandpas are for, right Grandpa?" Ben said, looking at Joshua.

"Right," Joshua said as he closed his book and walked down the steps to join them.

Lizzie ran up to join them with the line, hooks and a can and she handed them to Ben and then ran ahead, followed closely by Sally.

"I have a hard time believing you spanked that child, Ben," Joshua said, shaking his head as he watched Sally running to catch up with Lizzie.

"Why, because she's laughing and having fun instead of brooding and pouting?" Ben asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ruth used to brood horribly and all I ever did was scold her."

"Sally has learned that when it's over, it's over. She was punished, she made amends and now it's over. Maybe Ruth and Sally picked up on your mood in the past?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I seem to recall the day you spanked Sally in the mercantile, you kept frowning at her, even though she'd apologized and returned the horse, and…" Ben said raising a questioning eyebrow.

"And?' Joshua said with a raised eyebrow of his own and a smile on his face. "Go on Ben, I see the difference in Sally from when you've punished her and when I've punished her. John and Ruth may be in charge of raising Sally now, but that doesn't mean I can't learn to be a better grandpa to her."

"You made her sit next to you on that hard seat for the ride back to The Ponderosa."

"Should I have bought her some pillows to sit on for the ride back?" Joshua asked with a bit of sarcasm, "Like you brought her earlier today?"

"No," Ben said seriously, "you should have let her stand for the ride back; shown her some sympathy."

"Sympathy? The child stole and refused to apologize!" Joshua said heatedly.

"All right," Ben throwing up his hands and going silent.

"Sorry, Ben," Joshua said, after a few moments, "I'm not in the habit of being told how I should do things, but you're clearly more successful at disciplining Sally than I am. Please go on with what you were saying…about standing on the ride back?"

Ben frowned for a moment before going on.

"Look, if you show a child sympathy that they've had to be punished, you do three things, first you show them that all is forgiven and that you're not angry at them any more. Second, you put the blame squarely on their shoulders for getting the spanking in the first place. Third, if you start treating them like you always have, like it's over and you aren't angry anymore, then they seem to get over it faster without all the brooding and pouting. Today, after the spanking, I comforted Sally and then I brought her pillows and now she's smiling and laughing because she knows it's over and she's right, it is over."

"I would think you would want a child to remember they've been chastised," Joshua asked seriously.

"Why do you think I brought the pillows?" Ben said quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that the spanking I gave Sally was not so harsh that she needed all those pillows. The sting in her backside was probably gone by the time she was sitting in my lap, but the pillows reminded her that she had been punished and I didn't have to say a word," Ben said with a knowing grin.

Joshua grinned and shook his head, "I should have realized I was learning from a master. That's sly, Ben, really sly."

Ben just smiled and shrugged.

When they arrived at the pond, Joshua went to cut some poles and began stringing the lines and attaching the hooks while Ben and Lizzie dug for worms.

They soon met up on the banks of the pond.

"You said you'd put the worm on my hook, Grandpa," Sally said coming over to Joshua.

"Ask politely, Sally, honey," Ben chided as he put a worm on his own hook.

"Grandpa, would you please put the worm on my hook?" She glance up at Ben and smiled when she saw him nodding.

"Of course Sally," Joshua said, taking a worm out of the can and laughing at the grimace on Sally's face. He smiled proudly when he saw how intently she was watching him.

Ben and Lizzie walked down to the edge of the pond, cast their hooks into the water and took seats next to each other in the shade of an old tree.

"I like that ribbon in your hair," Ben said pointing at it. "It's pretty."

"I like it too, Mr. and Mrs. Mason gave it to me for the wedding," Lizzie said reaching back to touch it.

"I know and it's very becoming," Ben said smiling.

"If we catch anything today, do you think Hop Sing'll cook them for us tonight?"

"I'm sure he will, if we clean them for him."

"That's the worst part of catching fish," Lizzie said as she rolled her eyes. "Cleaning them." She leaned back against the tree. Joshua and Sally came to join them and Joshua showed Sally how to throw her line in the water. A few moments later, Lizzie caught a fish.

"Got one," she said happily.

Ben took the fish from her and put it on the stringer.

As time passed, everyone caught fish but Sally, and Ben watched her getting more and more agitated.

"That's why it's called fishing, Sally, not catching," Joshua said, trying to diffuse the temper he saw rising in her. "You just have to be patient."

"I don't want to be patient," Sally said, standing up and throwing down her pole.

"Sally, didn't we have a discussion about throwing things earlier today?" Ben asked seriously.

"Yes," Sally said, taking a step back from him.

Ben raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry, Ben," Sally said sincerely.

"You don't have to fish if you don't want to, just bring your pole up here and lean it against the tree. You don't need to throw it down," Ben said quietly.

Sally slowly picked up the pole, never taking her eyes from Ben and leaned the pole carefully against the tree and keeping her distance. Ben stifled an amused grin.

"Here, let me show you how to roll a coin across your knuckles," Ben said, as he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a coin. He flipped the coin neatly over his knuckles one at a time.

"Let me try," Sally said delightedly as she took the coin from his fingers.

"Me too!" Lizzie said, jumping up and leaning her pole against the tree as she waited for Ben to take out another coin.

"I don't want to miss out on this either," Joshua said, coming to join them.

They sat for about fifteen minutes watching Ben and then trying it themselves, when suddenly Lizzie stuck her coin in her pocket and pushing Ben's shoulder with both hands, she said, "You're it!" and she ran.

"Oh really?" Ben asked, leaping up, laughing and chasing after her.

Lizzie dodged away from Ben and he let her stay just out of reach as he said, "When I was on the sea, people were keelhauled for less, tied to the mast, put in the brig," Ben shouted, lunging for her, "sent to their bunk with only bread and water. When I was in the army, they were put in stocks, sent to the stockade, or…" he made a final lunge for her and snatched her up into his arms, "put on endless guard duty."

"Grandpa," Lizzie laughed, twisting in his arms, trying to get away.

"Oh, it's Grandpa, now, is it? I thought I was 'It'!" Ben started raining kisses down on her face, "So, who's 'It' now, Lizzie, huh? Who's 'It' now?" Ben laughed down at the struggling girl.

"You are!" Lizzie shouted, still trying to get away from his strong grasp and pushing at his chest.

"Well, I can't keelhaul you, maybe I should just toss you in the pond," Ben began to swing her in his arms as if he were going to toss her into the water. He made two false throws pulling her back at the last minute.

"No, Grandpa! No!" Lizzie laughed.

"Who's It'?" Ben asked again, pulling her in and pulling her back to swing again, he asked, "I believe the way to stop being 'It' is to tag someone else and seeing as how I have you in my arms, who's 'It'?'

"Me!" Lizzie conceded as she giggled. "I'm it! You tagged me. Don't throw me in the water."

"Well," Ben said, "as long as we're clear on who's 'It'," he said with a laugh and kissing her once more, he set her on her feet.

He leaned over and whispered, "Sally should be it, don't you think?"

Lizzie nodded and running over to Sally, she tagged her and said, "You're it!"

She ran from Sally trying to hide behind Ben. Sally laughed and jumped up. She ran towards Ben and Lizzie, but stopped when she saw them both pointing at Joshua.

Joshua tried to get up to run, but before he got to his feet, she ran over to him and pushed at his shoulder, shouting, "You're it, Grandpa!" and the game was on. Thirty minutes later they all lay panting on the ground.

"You two young ones have worn us two old ones out!" Ben complained as Lizzie came over to sit on his stomach.

"That was fun, Grandpa," she said, lying down on top of him and giving him a hug.

"It was Lizzie, it was a wonderful afternoon, now we need to get those fish back so we can give Hop Sing time to cook them for dinner," Ben said wearily as he dragged himself to his feet.

"Come on Joshua," Ben said, putting an arm around Lizzie's shoulders. "Come on Sally, time to head back."

Sally and Lizzie raced ahead of them as Ben reached out and grasping Joshua's hand, pulled him to his feet. He walked over to pull the stringer out of the water and wiped an arm across his eyes to remove the sweat.

"Do you do this often?" Joshua asked as he wiped a handkerchief across his brow.

"Often enough, Lizzie keeps me young," Ben said, laughing, as they trudged after the girls.

When they arrived back at The Ponderosa, Ben made the girls stand near him and take the fillets as he cleaned the fish.

"But I didn't catch any of these fish, Ben," Sally whined, "I thought you only had to clean fish if you caught any."

"Consider this one of the times when you just need to do as I ask, Sally, it won't hurt you to help. Do you hear me?" Ben said as he cupped her chin and used his thumb to stroke her cheek.

"Yes, Ben," Sally said as she held out the plate with her eyes closed.

"Good girl," Ben encouraged, "Thank you, Lizzie," Ben said, smiling at her as she took the heads and bones and put them in the slop pail for the pigs.

"All right, Sally," Ben said as he finished the last of the fish, "you take that into Hop Sing and Lizzie, you and I can get busy on the afternoon's chores. I think Hoss and Little Joe are already working." Lizzie grabbed the pail and walked over to dump it into the trough for the pigs and then skipped off to the barn. Ben followed her slowly, wiping the fish blood from his hands with a rag.

After chores were done, the three men and Lizzie came in to find Joshua reading and Sally setting the table.

"One more chore, Lizzie," Ben said, motioning with his head towards the table. Lizzie sighed, but she went over to help finish setting the table and bringing the food in from the kitchen. Soon they were all at the table eating and Joshua watched Sally eating her dinner and finishing at almost the same time as the rest of the people at the table. He watched her screw up her face as she ate the cauliflower but he was amazed that she didn't complain. After they had eaten dessert and adjourned to the living room, Lizzie climbed up into Ben's lap and Sally climbed into Hoss's.

"Your grandpa's here tonight, Sally. I won't mind if you want to sit in his lap tonight," Hoss said.

"No, I like it here, Hoss," Sally said as she leaned back against his chest. Hoss shot a sympathetic look at Joshua, who shook his head, indicating it was all right.

"I've told the girls a story or two about my ill spent youth, Joshua, why don't you tell your granddaughter about what you were like as a little boy? What kind of mischief did you get into?" Ben encouraged.

"Oh, I never," Joshua said waving his hand at Ben.

"Never, Grandpa?" Sally asked in wonder.

"Well, maybe once or twice or maybe a few more times than that," Joshua said winking at her. He glanced up at Ben and when he saw the satisfied nod, he continued. "Well, I grew up in San Francisco, which was a pretty large city, even then. When I was six years old I was not allowed outside of the yard. I had a good time playing outside and I got to see a lot of the neighbors even though I had to stay in the yard. The exception to the rule was when I could see either my father or my older brother coming down the street, then I was allowed to leave the yard and walk the rest of the way home with them."

"Sounds like your Grandpa had the same rules you do, Sally," Hoss said, patting her leg.

"But since you're older, you and Lizzie get to stray a bit farther than your grandpa did," Ben chimed in, patting Lizzie's leg.

"That's right, my parents kept me closer because I wasn't as grown up as you two are," Joshua said, nodding. "The problem with running to meet them was that we had to walk back past Mr. McCullough's place. He was a crotchety old man who lived three doors down from us. So, when I would run out to meet my father or my brother, I would always hope that Mr. McCullough wouldn't be outside. He was a difficult man and he had a foul temper, at least it seemed so to my six-year-old eyes. My father and brother were always very polite to him. They would nod and say good afternoon and Mr. McCullough would yell at us for walking too close to his flower beds."

Joshua raised his eyebrows, "That man was very protective of his flower beds! Well, one night, I was walking home with my father and I tripped and accidentally sat down on the edge of the sidewalk and when I put my hand back to stand up, I bent one of Mr. McCullough's flowers and he got very angry at me. He came out shaking his fist and yelling that I was a poorly behaved brat and he ought to take a stick to me. He also yelled at my father for not raising me properly and how he should take his belt to me once a week just on principle."

"What did you papa do?" Sally asked wide-eyed.

"He told me to apologize," Joshua responded, "which I did pretty unhappily because it was very hard to do that while facing a very angry Mr. McCullough. My father walked me the rest of the way home and when we got there, my mother had had unexpected guests arrive and I was left to my own devices and my father never said another word about Mr. McCullough, but I was thinking about it and getting angrier and angrier. I couldn't understand why he was so mean and why my father had made me apologize for an accident and the more I thought about it the more I decided to get even."

"Oh, oh, Grandpa," Sally said, laughing.

"You are right, Sally. I decided I was going to go and cut down every one of Mr. McCullough's flowers and then he wouldn't have anything to yell at me about."

"That was pretty naughty, Grandpa," Sally said seriously.

"It was! But I was angry and I didn't think about consequences," Joshua replied.

"And there are always consequences, aren't there girls?" Ben asked quietly.

The girls and Hoss nodded and Joshua continued with a smile.

"So, I snuck into my mother's sewing basket and took her shears. They were sharp and I had been told many a time that they were only to be used by her for cloth, but I didn't care, I was going to use them to cut those flowers. I took them and hid them in my bedroom and that night after I was put to bed, I took them and I crept out of the house in my nightshirt and down the street to Mr. McCullough's yard. The shears worked perfectly and I had most of the flowers cut when my brother came down the street after he had finished working and caught me."

"Did Mr. McCullough catch you?"

"No, but having my brother, Mark, catch me was almost as bad."

"What are you doing?" He hissed.

He grabbed me by the arm and he started to drag me to our house.

"Dad's gonna kill you," he said as he dragged me along.

"You can't tell him!" I cried. "You're my brother you aren't supposed to be a tattletale."

"I wouldn't tell on you if you'd done something small, but Joshy, this is big and everybody's going to see what you did and we can't hide this from Dad," he whispered as he continued to drag me towards the house.

"Well, then I just got scared and I started to cry. That stopped my brother in his tracks and he loosened his grip on me, but he didn't let me go."

"Josh," he said, "I don't want you to get into trouble, but you're going to have to tell Dad. He's the only one that's going to be able to fix this. I'm sorry but we have to," he apologized to me and then he started leading me to the house again. "I'll go with you."

"But Dad'll spank me!" I cried.

Mark ran a hand though his hair and said, "I know Josh. I've been right where you are, but I'll tell you it's going to be all over the neighborhood tomorrow and if you don't tell him tonight and he finds out later it was you, it's going to be a lot worse," he ran his fingers through his hair again, "Josh what were you thinking? Mr. McCullough's flowers!"

"I was just mad," I said, folding my arms.

Mark just sighed and said, "Let's go."

He led me into the parlor where my mother and father were sitting. My father looked up and asked how work was and then he saw me.

"What are you doing out of bed, young man?" My father asked seriously.

"And why do you have my dressmaking shears?" My mother asked when she saw them in my hand.

"I…I," I tried to answer them, but I was scared and I knew I was in the biggest trouble of my life."

"My brother squeezed my arm and I managed to carry them over to my mother and hand them to her. "

"I'm sorry, I said."

"She looked at them in her hand, covered in dirt and dull because of the plant stems."

"What have you been doing with them?" She asked frowning.

"Yes, son, tell us what you've been doing with them," my father echoed.

"He only called me son when I was in trouble. I looked up at my brother for help, but he just nodded and squeezed my arm again, trying to give me courage. He wasn't going to confess for me. My father expected us to come clean on our own."

"I…Mr. McCullough's flowers…I…" I tried to tell him, but the words just would not come out of my mouth. I saw understanding dawn in my father's eyes and I saw him get angry."

"You cut Mr. McCullough's flowers?" He asked incredulously.

"I nodded."

"With your mother's shears?"

"I nodded again."

My father blew out a big puff of air and said, "All right, first things first, run upstairs and get your piggy bank."

"Why, Daddy?" I asked.

"Your mother's shears need to be cleaned and sharpened, you're going to pay for that," my father explained firmly.

"But I was saving that money for a new car for my train!" I cried, rather unwisely. Joshua raised his eyebrows at Sally.

"Do you know what your grandpa did wrong, when he said that, Sally?" Ben asked her.

"When you're in trouble you should just do what you're told," Sally said nodding.

"You should always do what you're told, but especially when you're in trouble," Ben said chuckling and nodding.

"The train car is going to have to wait, the money needs to go to repairing what you did wrong," my father said gruffly. "Now go upstairs and get the piggy bank," he ordered.

"While I was upstairs, I guess my father had told my brother to go out and get the hammer because when I got back there was a towel and the hammer. My father made me break the bank and give all my money to my mother for the shears. I was really upset about the money and the train car, but when I turned around and saw my father's face, I forgot entirely about the train car and the money. He was as angry as I think I had ever seen him. My mother saw that too."

"He's just a child, Phillip, he didn't realize what he was doing," she said, as she tried to defend me.

"I realize he's a child, but that does not excuse the fact that he willfully destroyed another man's property," my father said with a frown.

"Get upstairs to your room. I'll be up shortly," my father ordered.

"I was only too glad to get out of that room, but once I got to my own room I started worrying about how bad it was going to be when my father came up, which he did a lot sooner than I would have liked."

"When he came in, he went right to the wooden chair at my desk, turned it around and sat down in it."

"Joshua, what you did tonight is beyond the pale. You left your room and the bed you were supposed to be in, you then left the yard you aren't allowed out of. You stole your mother's shears and used them to cut up Mr. McCullough's flowers. What were you thinking to do something so disobedient?"

"I stared at him, not sure if I was supposed to answer or not."

"Joshua Brown, I want an answer."

"Oooh, both names, that's never good," Hoss said, shaking his head.

"Yes, when he used both my names, I knew I needed to come up with an answer and quickly," Joshua said, nodding.

"Today…today, Mr. McCullough yelled at me. I fell on his flowers on accident. I didn't mean to hurt his nasty old flowers. I hate him and I hate those flowers. He's mean and I don't like him!" I shouted and crossed my arms.

"How have I allowed you to get so disrespectful?" My father asked.

"I hung my head then. I knew disrespect was about the worst thing I could do."

"Mr. McCullough is an old man. Those flowers are very important things to him. When you cut them down, you might just as well have spit in his face. Joshua!" My father scolded.

"What do you think we should do about this?" My father asked, crossing his arms and sitting back in his chair.

"I kept staring at the floor for a long time, I knew that I deserved a spanking, but actually saying that was very hard."

"Joshua?" My father asked, leaning forward.

"I'm sorry, Daddy," I whispered, keeping my head down.

"Apologies are a good place to start, Joshua, but I am not the one to whom apologies should be given. Your mother and Mr. McCullough, most certainly. What else?"

"Spanking," I finally managed to whisper.

"Do you think you earned it?" My father asked quietly.

"Yes, Sir," I said slowly.

"I would tend to agree," my father replied and he sat back, put his hands on his knees and waited for me to come to him.

When I walked over to him, he put me over his lap, face down and lifting my nightshirt, he said, "Tomorrow, first thing, you'll make your apologies to your mother and Mr. McCullough. If either of them asks something of you, you'll agree and do whatever they ask with no complaints. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Sir," I said, and with that he spanked me. It was the worst spanking I could ever remember getting and when he was done, he put me into bed and told me to not get out of bed again. I cried myself to sleep that night. Later I woke up when my brother…"

"Didn't he say he forgave you?" Lizzie interrupted.

Ben smiled down at the top of Lizzie's head then looked up at Joshua.

"I knew he forgave me, Lizzie," he fumbled. "He didn't have to say it."

"But he put you to bed right after the spanking, while you were still crying?"

"Well, yes…" Joshua said, "that was just the way he did things."

There was a long silence in the room.

"Let Mr. Brown go on with his story, Lizzie," Ben said kissing the top of her head. Lizzie looked up at him with questioning eyes, but she nodded and turned to look back at Joshua.

"Anyway, later on my brother came up to bed. When he saw that I had woken up, he asked me if I was all right."

"He spanked me really hard, Mark," I said.

"I know, Joshy, I'm sorry…"

"Why did you make me tell him? I wouldna gotten spanked."

"You had to tell him, Joshy. He would have found out eventually and if he didn't, you would have felt guilty eventually and told him and then the spanking you got would have been a lot worse. I was just looking out for you."

"I don't like you very much right now," I said and I turned over and went to sleep.

The next morning, my father came and woke me up, got me dressed and took me downstairs. I apologized again to my mother for taking her shears. She said we'd take them to have them sharpened and that she suspected they would be almost good as new. That was the easier apology. Then he took me to see Mr. McCullough. As we walked up the steps I was trembling.

"You made this bed, Joshua, now you are having to lie in it," my father said as he rang the bell.

"When Mr. McCullough answered, I just looked up at him like those fish we caught this afternoon, Sally, wide eyed and mouth gaping. I finally said, "I'm sorry."

"For what, young man? Speak up," Mr. McCullough said, frowning.

"Your flowers," I said and pointed towards them.

"He pushed past me and when he saw the flower beds, he just sank down on his knees and started to cry.

"Is that what you hoped for, when you cut up the flowers, Joshua?" My father demanded.

"If I hadn't felt sorry before, I sure felt sorry then. I ran down the steps and started telling Mr. McCullough over and over how sorry I was. He just pushed at me and told me to get away from him. I stood up, not knowing what to do, and my father came and led me back to the house and told me to stay indoors for the rest of the day. I thought it was more of my punishment. I didn't know it then, but it was a kindness. Once the whole neighborhood saw what I had done being outside would have been awful for me. That afternoon when my father came home he told me that he had seen Mr. McCullough and he wanted to see me. I walked back down the sidewalk with my father and saw that the flowerbed had been cleaned of all the debris that I had left."

My father gave me a gentle push over to Mr. McCullough and I said again, "I'm sorry Mr. McCullough. Can I help you with your flowers?"

He looked up at me and said, " I know you're sorry, but I need to know why you felt you needed to tear up these flowers this way."

"I just got mad at you for yelling at me about them all the time and then when I fell and accidentally bent one, you just yelled louder," I said softly.

"I was so ashamed."

"Perhaps I've given them more value than I should, young man," Mr. McCullough said sadly. "These flowers were planted by my wife shortly before she died and I guess by keeping them alive I felt I was keeping her alive. I'm not happy you destroyed them, but maybe it was not an all-together bad thing that it happened. Do you think you and your father here can help me plant new ones this weekend?"

I looked up at my father and when he nodded, I said, "Yes, Sir!"

All that guilt took a while to go away, but Mr. McCullough and I went on to be good friends. He was still pretty mean tempered at times though, but I learned not to take his yelling too seriously."

The room fell into silence as the story ended.

"Bedtime girls," Ben said, breaking the silence and putting Lizzie on her feet.

"Go say good night to your papa, Lizzie, I'll be up in a minute."

"You're grandpa's leaving tomorrow, Sally. I think he should have the honors of putting you to bed tonight," Hoss said with a smile.

Sally stood up and took Joshua's hand and they went up the stairs together.

* * *

><p>Later, Joshua came downstairs and sat on the couch.<p>

"That was some story you told tonight," Ben said,

"I hadn't thought of that in years," Joshua said, "it's interesting looking back on it as an adult. I can still remember all those feelings. I'm not sure why I chose that particular story to tell."

"Sounds like your father was a bit like mine, not too sympathetic when I had misbehaved."

"Perhaps that's why I told that story tonight, I was thinking about what you had said about having sympathy for Sally. I got through it, but I was still not myself for a couple of days. I certainly didn't bounce back the way Sally did today."

"Well, what she did was minor in comparison to what you did."

"Yes, but there was more to it than that. Why my father didn't tell me I was forgiven or offer me some comfort is hard to understand. Lizzie picked up on that and I never really thought about it or questioned it."

"Lizzie has been brought up in a different way than we were, that's for sure. A better way, I think," Ben said gazing off in thought into the fire.

"I would agree and those memories made me see that in a way I hadn't before, not even when Ruth was growing up. I don't remember offering her forgiveness and comfort after I scolded her and I should have."

They lapsed into silence for several moments. Ben looked up when he felt Joshua's eyes on him.

"What?" Ben asked, looking up from his contemplation of the fire.

"You've worked a miracle with Sally," Joshua said earnestly.

"Ah," Ben said waving his hand as if to brush the compliment away.

"No, really you have. I can't believe the change that's come over her. She's been with you, what? Six days? And she's doing chores and eating her dinner without complaining. You only had to ask her once to go to bed and she was actually fun to be around this afternoon when we were fishing."

"Oh, I just brought out the good little girl that was hiding in there. She just needed to know what was expected of her and the consequences of not meeting those expectations."

"And how many times did you have to mete out those consequences, Ben?"

"Not as often as you seem to think Joshua. Twice, actually, once the day after Ruth was hurt and again today and I suspect that she's not going to need that sort of correction for a while. She's a smart girl and she's learned what she needs to do."

"I found myself a bit apprehensive when I saw cauliflower on the table."

Ben laughed, "Yes, she's not overly fond of very many vegetables, but then my boys weren't either. The lure of dessert was usually enough to get them to eat and that seems to be working with Sally. She has quite the sweet tooth."

Joshua was silent for a long time, staring at the fire.

"Thank you, Ben," he said quietly, "with Ruth married, I don't know how often I'll get to see Sally and I appreciate what you've done for her and me. I was able to have a good day with Sally, one that didn't end in tears or tantrums and without me tensing up waiting for her to start acting up. You and Adam have done wonders with her. Thank you," Joshua said again, never looking up from the fire.

"Ah, she's a good girl, she just needed help breaking some bad habits is all." Ben said, closing his book and setting it aside. "Since you're leaving tomorrow, how about you give me another chance to beat you at chess?"

Joshua stood with a chuckle, "We'll just see who beats whom Ben."


	51. Marriage and Children

Early the next morning, Joshua came down the stairs to see Sally coming out of the kitchen.

"Good morning," he said, pouring himself a cup of coffee and taking a seat on the couch. "You're downstairs early."

"Hop Sing braided my hair for me," Sally said waving her comb at him, "he's the only one that knows how to braid now that Adam can't do it."

"Grandpa, can I ask you something?" Sally asked, sitting down next to him on the couch.

"You may," he said, putting his arm up on the couch behind her, crossing his legs and looking down at her.

"Did you stay mad at your brother for making you tell your father about what you had done?"

Joshua smiled, "You've been thinking about my story, huh?"

Sally nodded.

"No, Sally, he really was being a good brother to me. When I woke up the next morning, my tears were gone, the sting of the spanking was gone, and I knew he was right about telling. My father was still angry at me, but at least he knew what I had done and I didn't have to worry all night about what was going to happen when he found out, because he already knew."

Sally nodded.

"Did you ever get your train car?"

"Well, about a week after all that I told you last night happened, my father arrived home with a new bank for me. He told me that it was time to start saving again. He also made sure to find a lot of extra chores for me to do, so that I could earn the money I needed. I'm not sure, but I think my mother and my brother fed the pig every so often too. So, I had that new car probably a month afterwards."

As they were talking, Ben came down the stairs. "Good morning, Joshua. Morning honey. Did Hop Sing braid your hair for you?"

"Yes, Ben," Sally said coming over to him.

"So are you going to run your comb back upstairs and make your bed for me?"

"All right," Sally said, running up the stairs.

Ben walked over to pour himself some coffee.

"So, you'll head off today and be back at The Ponderosa on Tuesday by night fall?"

"Yes, that's the plan and then I'll be heading back to San Francisco on Wednesday," Joshua replied.

"Then, I'll invite Ruth and John for dinner Tuesday night so that you'll get to see them one last time before you head for the coast," Ben said, taking a seat in his chair.

"Thank you, Ben. It will be nice to have dinner as a family here with you and your family."

"I hope that now that you have family here, we'll see you often. You are always welcome on The Ponderosa."

* * *

><p>Lizzie came into Adam's room after breakfast.<p>

"Sorry about reading yesterday, honey, I'm feeling pretty rested right now, do you want to try to read again?" Adam said as she came into the room.

"No, thank you, Papa, I just wish you were well," Lizzie said as she climbed into bed with him.

"I wish I was well too, but I am feeling much better and maybe the next time Dr. Fellows comes he'll let me take off this sling and I'll be able to come to the table instead of eating all my meals up here. I get pretty lonely."

"Maybe I can come up here and eat with you," Lizzie suggested.

"No, I think you need to be at the table when you eat your meals, but I appreciate you offering," Adam said with a smile. "I see you're wearing your new ribbon today. That was really nice of the Mason's to think of you, wasn't it?"

"Yes…" Lizzie said dreamily, "Papa, what was your wedding like?"

"Well, I told you some of it on the ride back in the buggy,"

"But I want to hear it again…" Lizzie begged.

"All right, well, it was a warm spring morning and I had had trouble sleeping the night before the wedding."

"Why?"

"Because I was nervous," Adam said seriously.

"Why were you nervous?"

"Well, getting married is a very big step. I was going to be someone's husband and I wanted to do a good job. I wanted to take good care of my wife and I wanted to be a good papa to the children that were going to come along…like you," he said touching her nose.

"So, what happened first thing that day?" Lizzie asked as she snuggled down into the crook of his left arm.

"I woke up," Adam said laughing.

"Papa!" Lizzie scolded.

"Well, that was a good thing, I did get some sleep," Adam said, winking at her.

"Then what?" Lizzie asked.

"Well the wedding was set to begin at 11:00 that morning, so I got up and had breakfast with the family, just like always and then I went out to do chores. I hoped that doing something active would help me get over my nervousness and actually it did help. So once the chores were done, I came inside and started getting ready. Your grandpa came up to talk to me as I got ready and then we all left for the church."

"What did Grandpa say?"

"Well, he talked about my mother and how happy she was on their wedding day. He also told me that from now on I needed to think about what was best for me and your mother, not just me and that sometimes what was best for us was not going to be what was best for me."

What does that mean?"

"It means that I couldn't just go and do what I wanted to anymore, I had to think about your mother and what was best for her. I couldn't be selfish because I had a another person to consider."

"Was she pretty on your wedding day?"

"She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. As she walked down the aisle, carrying the wildflowers in her hands, I knew I was the most blessed man on the earth at that very moment. You remind me so much of her. After we exchanged our vows, we had a huge reception at The Ponderosa. I think the entire town came to the party. There was barbecue and punch and dancing. Afterwards we went to the little house that we all lived in until we came to live here. The next day we went to San Francisco. We walked along the wharf and we ate seafood and we fell more deeply in love everyday."

"Do you think that's what Miss Brown and Dr. Fellows are doing?"

"I'm _sure_ Mrs. Fellows and Dr. Fellows are falling more in love every day. Their wedding was a lot like your mother's and mine."

They lay quietly for a long time and then Lizzie asked, "Papa, what's a bastard?"

"A what?" Adam asked, hoping he had misheard her.

"A bastard? I heard Mrs. Phillips say that it was a good thing that Miss Brown and Dr. Fellows were getting married because then they could hide the fact that Sally's a bastard."

"Well, Lizzie, it means that Sally's parents weren't married when she was born. It is a horribly, naughty word and I don't want to ever hear you say it," Adam said firmly.

"But Mr. O'Leary says it all the time. He calls everyone a bastard," Lizzie said sitting up.

"He's from Ireland and there are words that the Irish use that mean something else in Ireland. He means it in a teasing way not in a mean way. Here it is a demeaning, horrible word and you must never use it. Do you understand?" Adam said firmly.

"Yes, Papa, but how come Sally's parents weren't married when she was born? I thought you had to be married to have children."

"That is the preferable route, Lizzie, you _should_ be married before you have children, but no, you don't _have_ to be married to have children," Adam sighed. "Lizzie, I want you to go and close the door and then I'll answer all your questions," Adam said quietly, cursing Mrs. Phillips as he watched Lizzie close the door.

"Am I in trouble?" Lizzie asked quietly from the door.

"No, you are definitely not in trouble, but we're going to talk about things that are private and I asked you to close the door so that what we talk about will be just between us. So come up here and tell me else you're wondering about."

"So, how can you have babies if you're not married?"

"You and I have never talked about where babies come from, have we?" Adam asked, patting the bed and motioning her to lie down next to him. This was definitely going to be one of those talks that shouldn't be face to face.

"No, Papa…"

"You've seen the bull servicing the cows though and the stallion with the mares?"

"Yes…" Lizzie said nodding and frowning.

Adam took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"And you've heard us talk about insemination? Do you know what that means?"

"It's how we get calves and foals."

"Right, the bull or the stallion inseminates the cow or the mare and she gets pregnant and has a calf or a foal. Men inseminate woman the same way and the women get pregnant and nine months later they have a baby."

Adam lay still and let her digest that information.

"You mean men get on women's backs like bulls do to cows?" Lizzie sat up, looking worried.

"No, honey, men and women make love facing each other. That's what it's called, making love, not breeding. Couples want to look into each other's eyes and hug and kiss. It's enjoyable and it's the way the men and women show that they love each other. With a cow or a horse it's not a loving act, but with humans it is and that's why men and women should wait until they're married to make love."

"But Miss Brown didn't wait…"

"No, honey, Miss Brown and Sally's father didn't wait."

"Why not?"

"Lizzie, I loved your mother very much and I always wanted to be around her. I could hardly wait to marry her because I wanted to make love to her, but she and I knew that we weren't supposed to make love until we were married, but it was hard to wait," Adam grasped for words, "sometimes people just want something so badly that they forget they aren't supposed to and they give into their feelings and do something they shouldn't. That's what Miss Brown and Sally's father did, they made love even though they weren't married and they should have waited."

"So, why are you supposed to wait?"

"Because making love is something that should only be done between married people."

"But horses and cows aren't married…" Lizzie said, lying back down and putting her head back on Adam's chest.

"No, they aren't and that's another way animals and humans are different. When animals breed, they do it because their nature is driving them to breed. When humans make love it's very different…"

"But you said that men inseminate women the same way that bulls inseminate cows."

Adam took a deep breath and plunged in, "Yes, Lizzie, a man puts his penis inside of a woman to inseminate her the same way a bull puts his penis inside of a cow to inseminate her, but that's where it stops being the same. People have feelings and when they make love it's not just about making a baby, the way it is with animals. It is also about making your husband or wife feel good and loved and strengthening the marriage bond and becoming closer. That's why a man and a woman should get married before they make love, so they declare to the world that they are in love and going to work at becoming closer and have a family so that when the babies come along, they have parents who are committed to each other and plan on raising the family together."

"So, Sally's mama and papa didn't wait until they were married and that's why Sally's a bastard?"

"Lizzie, the word I want you to use instead of bastard is illegitimate and yes, Sally is illegitimate because her mama and papa made love and Sally was born before they were married."

"So, why didn't they get married? Didn't Sally's papa want to raise the family with Miss Brown?"

"I don't know, honey, and it would be impolite to ask, so you and I will probably never know." Adam took a deep breath and asked, "What else do you want to know?"

"Did you and Mama make love?' Lizzie finally asked with a blush.

"Of course we did, we were in love and we were married and we wanted to show that love for each other the way that husbands and wives are supposed to. Making love is a good thing, Lizzie, it's a wonderful thing that husbands and wives share. We made love and God eventually blessed us with you," Adam lifted her chin as he said that, "Any thing else you want to know?"

"No, I don't think so," Lizzie said.

"Are you sure?"

Uh, huh," Lizzie said.

"There's a few more things I'd like to say then, and I want you to pay close attention. First this conversation we just had is not to be shared with anyone. What we discussed is private and personal. All right?"

"Yes, Papa."

"All right, second, if you have any questions about where babies come from or what it means for a man and a woman to make love, I want you to come to me. This isn't a topic for conversation amongst your friends. Parents decide when children need to know what I told you today and I don't want you to be the one to tell your friends. Lastly and most importantly, it is not Sally's fault that she is illegitimate, but people will try to make her feel like it is. They will try to make her feel like she is bad or less than they are because she is illegitimate."

"Like Mrs. Phillips?"

"Yes, like Mrs. Phillips, what she said was unbecoming of a lady and I know a fair lady like you would never try to make Sally feel like she is bad for something that her parents did. You aren't to tell Sally she's illegitimate and if she ever asks you about it, then you should tell her to ask her parents."

"Is she still illegitimate now that Miss Brown and Dr. Fellows are married?"

"In the eyes of the law, Sally will be illegitimate unless Dr. Fellows adopts her, but I think in Dr. Fellows' eyes, he is already her father even without the adoption so in all the ways that matter she is legitimate. She is his daughter," Adam paused looking into her eyes to see if she understood before he asked, "any other questions?"

"No…"

"Do you think we might read together, now?" Adam asked raising his eyebrows.

"Yes," she said with a smile and went to get the book from his desk.


	52. Testing

Early the next morning, Sally awoke to Ben gently rubbing her arm.

"Time to get up, Sally, honey," he said quietly. "Your grandpa is leaving to go back to San Francisco and your mama and papa are coming to take you to your new home."

Sally slowly opened her eyes.

"We need to get you up and dressed and we'll have breakfast, then we'll need to start packing. That will make it easier when your folks arrive. Are you awake honey?" Ben asked as he stroked the hair away from her face.

"Yes, Ben," she said with a frown.

"What's wrong? Did you not sleep well?"

"No… I slept all right."

"First day of school nerves…" Ben said nodding.

"What's that mean?"

"You know how you feel all nervous the first day of school and then when you get there, everything turns out all right? You're just nervous about the unknown. I'll bet you're feeling first day of school nerves about your new home and your new papa. I'm sure everything will turn out all right. Now come on, let's get you up."

Ben helped Sally get dressed; then he took her downstairs so that Hop Sing could braid her hair, while he got a cup of coffee.

Soon, Lizzie came stomping down the stairs in her jeans and her nightgown.

"Hop Sing, where's my blue shirt? Didn't you wash it? I want my blue shirt," she called as she walked past Ben without acknowledging him and stomped into the kitchen. Ben grinned as he poured his coffee.

"You go find something else. Your blue shirt not done. You go find something else," Hop Sing said as he pushed Lizzie out of the kitchen door and towards Adam who had just come down the stairs. "She naughty girl," he said, "she want shirt that not clean." Hop Sing turned back to the kitchen, grumbling in Cantonese.

"What's going on Lizzie?" Adam asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I want my blue shirt. Hop Sing hasn't washed it!" She whined.

"Well, we've had a busy couple of days around here. Find something else to wear," Adam said firmly.

"But I want my blue shirt!" Lizzie said as she stomped her foot.

"Stop complaining. Go upstairs and find another shirt, Elizabeth," Adam ordered.

Lizzie stood with her arms crossed and glared at him a long time before finally turning and stomping up the stairs.

"I was wondering when that was going to happen," Ben chuckled as he handed Adam a cup of coffee and took a seat in his chair.

"Me too," Adam said with a grin as he took his own chair, "I was hoping we could avoid it."

"She's weathered the storms of the last week pretty well, but with you on your feet, I suspect Lizzie's going to need her papa to be more present in her life now that you're better," Ben said with a smile.

"I know," Adam sighed, "I'm back in her life and I don't think she's going to like it all that much at first. I think the chicken coop needs to be cleaned and there are a few other things I can think of that will give Lizzie and me some father/daughter time."

"Now, Adam, don't go too hard on her, she's had a traumatic week and you aren't totally healed yet," Ben warned.

"I'm well enough to give Lizzie the attention that she needs, whatever that may be," Adam said quietly, taking a sip of coffee.

"Is Lizzie in trouble?' Sally asked as she came into the great room.

"No, honey, she's not. Did Hop Sing fix your hair for you?" Ben said,

"Yes, but Lizzie came into the kitchen shouting at Hop Sing…" Sally said, walking over to Ben.

"She just got up on the wrong side of the bed, Sally. Everybody has days like that. Take your comb up and put it away and come back down for breakfast. All right?"

Sally nodded and walked up the stairs, just as Lizzie came down. They exchanged glances, but didn't say anything.

"Come over here, Lizzie," Adam said quietly. He put his arm out and pulled her in close when she got near. "I'm sorry your blue shirt wasn't clean this morning, but yelling at Hop Sing and stomping your feet isn't going to make it clean, is it?"

"No," Lizzie said grumpily, not meeting his eyes.

"You and I haven't spent much time together lately. I think we should today. We'll start with cleaning the chicken coop," Adam said, patting her hip.

"Chores? I don't want to do chores," Lizzie complained as she leaned back.

"Regardless, we'll see Sally and Mr. Brown off and we'll get started. No complaints," Adam said seriously as Lizzie moved away from him and threw herself onto the couch, "I was hoping you'd want to spend time with me."

"Not doing chores!" Lizzie whined.

"Well, I'm the papa, so I'm deciding, and you and I will be spending the day doing chores," Adam said crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.

"What about your arm?" Lizzie asked gesturing at his left arm.

"I'll be careful of it and I don't need my arm to supervise," Adam said with a grin.

"I don't want to have to do all the work!" Lizzie shouted, jumping up from the couch and stomping up the stairs.

"Don't hold breakfast, Pa," Adam said, as he followed Lizzie up the stairs, patting Sally on the head as she came down the stairs followed by Mr. Brown, to whom he gave a big grin.

"Did I hear shouting down here?" Joshua asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Oh, it was just Adam and Lizzie getting back to normal," Ben said with a laugh as Hoss and Little Joe came in the door. "Adam hasn't been as big a presence in Lizzie's life as he usually is for the past week and he's just reminding her that despite being injured, he's still the papa. Come on, let's eat," he said standing as Hop Sing came in with a full platter of food.

Adam opened the door and walked into Lizzie's room. He glanced at her sitting on the window seat with a frown on her face, and her arms wrapped around her legs, before he walked over to her, pulled her to her feet and landed three swats to her backside as he said, "You will not shout at me. We are going to be doing chores together and I have had enough of the whining and complaining."

When she burst into tears, Adam knew it wasn't about the swats, it was about the past week. He guided her over to the rocking chair and pulled her into his lap.

"You have had quite the week, haven't you?" He paused, "A shooting, a trial, and a wedding," he shook his head. "You've done so well with all of it and I'm really proud of you. Hopefully from now on, things will be back to normal. I will be back to spending time with you and tucking you into bed and reading with you and eating dinner with the family and giving you a good spanking when you need it," he said with a definite warning in his voice.

Lizzie looked up at him quickly when he said spanking.

"Hopefully I'll be doing a lot more of the first four and none of the last," Adam said kissing her forehead. "I want you to come down for breakfast and then we'll see Mr. Brown off and get busy with the chicken coop, both of us, not just you." Adam patted her knee.

"I don't want to do chores, " Lizzie said pushing out her lip and sliding off of his lap.

"I'm sorry, but there are things that need to be done around here and you'll pull your weight, so get up and let's go downstairs," Adam said as he stood and held out his hand to her. Lizzie stood up and ignoring his hand, started toward the door with her arms folded across her chest.

"Lizzie, come take my hand," Adam commanded. "Elizabeth," he said in warning as she took another step towards the door. Lizzie sighed and came back and took his hand.

"Good decision," he said as his hand closed around hers. He led her downstairs and when they reached the breakfast table, he held out her chair for her.

"So, Sally, are you excited about your new home?" Adam asked as he took his seat. "It'll be fun to be in town, all that excitement, not like here where we have to take a ride into town."

"We're going to miss you, Sally," Ben added.

"_I'm_ going to miss you, Sally," Joshua said sincerely.

"I'm gonna miss you too, Grandpa," Sally said and she turned toward him as he stroked her hair.

"I'm going to try and come visit you as often as I can," Joshua said, "I'll really miss you, but I'm glad you already have such good friends here, like Lizzie."

"You and Lizzie will be in school together and you'll have to come out and see us as often as you can, right Lizzie?" Adam said, giving Lizzie a nudge. "She'll like Mr. Hanson, won't she?"

Lizzie nodded, "Yes, Mr. Hanson's nice and school's mostly fun, except it's inside," Lizzie said as took a bite and rolled her eyes.

Adam laughed, "Lizzie is of the opinion that school would really improve if it was held outside."

Ben and Joshua laughed.

"I think I agree with you, Lizzie," Joshua said and winked at her. "It's hard being cooped up in a room all day when the weather is just right for being outside."

Lizzie laughed and nodded.

"Well, if you're finished, Sally, you and I will go up and pack your things while your Grandpa gets ready to leave, all right?" Ben asked as he stood and held out his hand to her.

"Lizzie and I will get busy on the chicken coop and I think we might be able to help Hop Sing out in the garden by weeding too," Adam said as he stood, "Clean off the table, Lizzie, and we'll get busy too, all right?"

Lizzie sighed, but stood to do as she was told.

Ben and Sally walked up the stairs followed by Joshua.

"I see you made your bed this morning, Sally, thank you. Now how about we see if we can get everything folded and put into the trunk all right?" Ben said in an encouraging voice.

"All right, Ben," Sally said as she began to pull the clothes from the wardrobe.

Ben smiled and stroked her hair, "You're a good girl, Sally."

"Have you seen the new house, Ben?" Sally asked. "Do you think it's nice?"

"Well, the banker owned it before your papa bought it and it's near the Mason's, so you'll be able to play with Jenny."

Sally just nodded and quietly turned to packing.

Ben frowned and watched her a moment before reaching in to help her.

Lizzie had the table cleared and was dawdling around pulling the tablecloth into place, when Adam came back into the house.

"What's the hold up?" He asked as he walked towards her.

"Nothing," Lizzie said as she put her hands behind her back and stepped back from him.

"Stalling around in here, is only going to get you into trouble, Lizzie. Come on, it's time to get busy," Adam said as he reached out and took her hand.

Adam walked Lizzie across the yard and into the chicken coop, "All right you get the chickens out and I'll start raking the ground."

"Don't want to," Lizzie said backing away from him.

"What has gotten into you this morning?" Adam asked sternly. "I didn't ask you if you wanted to, I told you we would be doing this together. He crossed his arms for a moment and looked at Lizzie.

"If you don't want to, you can just stand in that corner until you decide to help." Adam said as he took her arm and led her to the corner. He herded the chickens out of the pen and began to collect the eggs, putting them in a bucket by the door, he began raking up the litter on the ground. Lizzie stood quietly in the corner and she began to feel guilty when she heard her father hiss every now and then with pain. She peered over her shoulder at him and saw him grimace and then his eyes met hers.

"Do you think you might be willing to help now?" He asked firmly.

"Yes," she said with the guilt evident in her voice.

"All right, take the eggs into Hop Sing and then come back out here quickly," he said quietly.

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said, giving him a quick hug around his waist before picking up the bucket of eggs and heading towards the house. Adam watched her go with a small smile on his face and began raking again, hoping that her testing him was over, but not counting on it. He suspected they were going to be in for a long day.

When Lizzie came back, Adam directed her to begin changing the straw in the nesting boxes. Lizzie worked slowly so things took longer than Adam would have liked and they were just finishing up when Joshua came out of the house and began loading up his horse, followed by Ben and Sally.

"Come on, honey," Adam said, "let's go say our goodbyes to Mr. Brown."

Lizzie ran ahead of him and up to Mr. Brown.

"Bye Mr. Brown, have a good ride back to San Francisco."

"Thank you, Lizzie, it was a pleasure meeting you and spending time with your family," he said warmly as he turned to Ben, "Ben, old friend, it has been an exciting two weeks for me and my family. I can't believe I came here with my two girls and I'm leaving them both behind." His eyes slowly settled on Sally.

"Well, Sally," Joshua said as he squatted down, "I guess you are off to start your new life and I'm going to want to hear all about it. Will you promise to write and come visit? I'm really going to miss you." He searched her eyes and then smiled broadly when she reached out to hug him. He hugged her back without hesitation and didn't let go until she did.

"I'll write, Grandpa, I promise."

"I'll look forward to those letters. Bye, Sally," he said kissing her cheek. He stood, shook Ben's and Adam's hands, gave a wave to Lizzie, mounted his horse, and rode off. He had not gone half a mile, when he saw John and Ruth coming towards him in a wagon.

"Pa, I'm so glad we came in time. I wanted to say goodbye," Ruth said with a cry.

"I was planning on coming to your new home, Ruth. I wouldn't have left without saying goodbye," Joshua said, feeling a bit hurt that Ruth would think that he would leave that way. He had done it often when she was a child, he realized, but he was always coming back. He dismounted and walked over to the wagon.

"I'm sorry, Ruth," he said.

"For what, Pa?" Ruth asked with worry in her voice.

"All those times I left when you were a girl without saying goodbye,"

"Pa, no, you were busy…" Ruth reassured him climbing down off of the wagon and going to him.

"If I hadn't done it when you were a girl, you wouldn't have thought I'd be doing it now and I'm sorry, busy or not, I should have taken more time for you," he took hold of her arms and looked her full in the face. "I've learned a lot over the last couple of weeks and realized things about myself that I would prefer not to see, but a man can change and I intend to do that," he hugged her and looking over her shoulder, he said, "John, you take good care of my girls. I may be more than a couple of days ride away from Virginia City, but if I hear you aren't doing right by them, I'll be right back here to settle your hash."

"Yes, Sir, I believe you will," John said smiling and climbing down from the wagon, he extended his hand. "You'll always be welcome in our home and I'll do my best to not require any hash settling."

Joshua laughed and took the offered hand. John slipped his arm around Ruth's waist and Joshua nodded at them.

"You're a good match and I think you'll do all right," he said as he took Ruth's hand and kissed her on the cheek. "I love you, Ruth," he said quickly and mounting his horse, he raised his hand and rode away.

"Love you too," Ruth called as she watched him ride away.

* * *

><p>Ben, Sally, Adam and Lizzie watched Joshua ride away and when all that was left was a cloud of dust, Ben said, "I expect your folks will be here soon, Sally, let's get back to it," he put his arm around her shoulders and led her back into the house.<p>

"We need to sort out that pile of tack, Lizzie, and see what kinds of repairs need to be done," Adam said, turning to walk toward the barn.

Lizzie sighed, but followed him. When they entered the barn, Lizzie saw a pump that Hoss had been trying to repair, unsuccessfully. She walked over to it and began to rattle the handle and move it up and down.

"Lizzie come over here and help me," Adam said tiredly, as he began to untangle a set of reins. "Hoss is trying to fix that pump and if you break it I'm going to put you over my knee." Adam growled when Lizzie continued to play with the handle. "Elizabeth, stop that now and let's untangle this mess."

Lizzie glanced over her shoulder at him and rattled the handle back and forth a few more times when it broke off in her hand. She felt a flush of worry come over her and she quickly put the handle down just as Hoss walked into the barn.

"Dang, I was sure I had that fixed and it broke again," Hoss said walking over to the workbench.

"With a little help from Lizzie," Adam growled looking up for the tangle of reins, leads and halters and seeing the pump handle lying on the bench.

Lizzie put her hands behind her back and took a step away from both Hoss and Adam.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Hoss, it broke off," Lizzie said quietly.

"Ah, that's all right, Lizzie. I just need a stronger way to attach that handle," he said picking up the handle and staring at it as Adam cleared his throat.

"I shouldn't have been playing with it, Uncle Hoss," Lizzie said as she glanced at her father, "I'm sorry it broke."

Hoss glanced up to see the looks being exchanged between Lizzie and Adam and said, "Accidents happen, I appreciate your apology though, thank you. Now, don't you worry yourself no more about it, if it couldn't stand up to you playing with it, it certainly couldn't stand up to being used to pump water," Hoss said as he reached out to pat her back.

"Hoss," Adam asked quietly, "would you excuse us please?"

Hoss shot a quick look at Adam and then one at a blushing Lizzie.

"Now, Adam…" Hoss started.

"Please, Hoss?" Adam asked again, interrupting him.

Hoss sighed, nodded quickly and with a pat to Lizzie's head, he left the barn, closed the door behind him and joined the ranch hands who were just coming into the yard.

"Lizzie, come over here," Adam said taking a seat on a low bench near the stalls.

"It was an accident, Papa, even Uncle Hoss said so," Lizzie whined, keeping her hands behind her back and taking several steps backward.

"I know it was an accident. I know you didn't mean to break it, but it would not be broken if you had stopped playing with it when I told you to stop." Adam said and held out his hand, "Now come here."

Lizzie looked at him with worriedly and began to twist her hands together.

"Elizabeth, now," Adam said sternly as he frowned at her.

"But we're in the barn," Lizzie whispered timidly.

Adam's face softened as he understood the main reason for her reluctance, and he said gently, "You're right. Should we finish this conversation up in your bedroom or do you think the tack room will be all right?" He folded his arms across his chest and sat back.

Lizzie looked at him with a bit of relief and then looked at the door through which Hoss had left and then at the tack room, trying to decide while Adam patiently waited.

"The tack room," she finally whispered when she heard the laughter from the ranch hands and her uncle just outside the barn.

"All right," Adam said quietly, as he rose and held his hand out to her again, "let's go."

Lizzie nodded and walked over to him and he let his hand rest gently on her neck, guiding her into the tack room and closing the door behind him. He left her near the door and sat down on a stool.

"You have been riding on the edge of disobedience all day," Adam said sternly, "and now you've stepped over the line."

"But it was an accident, Papa," Lizzie whined as she bobbed up and down, putting her hands behind her back.

"I know it was an accident, but this is not just about you breaking the pump. This is about your bad attitude all day. This is about you inflicting your bad mood on everyone. Hop Sing did not deserve the way you spoke to him this morning. Did he?" Adam asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Lizzie shook her head and ducking her head, she took a step away from him, putting her back against the door.

"This is also about you refusing to help with the chicken coop and yes, this is about your breaking the pump, because if you had stopped when I had told you to, it would not have broken. You need to mind me, Lizzie. You know that," Adam said firmly. "Now come here." Adam commanded.

Lizzie pushed herself away from the door and slowly walked over to him.

"Unbutton your trousers," he commanded, pointing at them with his right forefinger.

When Lizzie did as he told her to, he pulled her around to his side and over his lap. He pulled her trousers down to her knees and rested his hand on her backside for just a moment as he listened for tears, when he heard none, he shook his head a couple of times and realizing he was still being tested, he lit into her. He knew he needed to make this spanking count and he landed twelve solid swats that would leave a sting. When he pulled up her trousers and set her on her feet, he knew he was right about this being a test. She was dry eyed and although Lizzie took a step back, she did not get as far away from him as she normally would have when he punished her. He leaned back, extending his long legs in front of him, crossing them at the ankles and folded his arms as he watched the emotions flit across Lizzie's face. She studied his hands for a long time and then looked at the splint that was still on his broken left arm and then her eyes settled on his injured shoulder.

When Lizzie's eyes returned to his, he said, "I am your papa and I am here to watch over you, even with a broken arm and an injured shoulder. I am here, just like always." He paused, looking deeply into her eyes; he searched for understanding, "Have I made that clear?" Adam asked.

Lizzie nodded and she looked down at the floor.

"All right. How about the bad mood? Is that gone or are we going to continue on as we have been today?"

"It's gone," Lizzie said with a slight smile.

"Good," Adam said uncrossing his legs, sitting up, and holding out his arms to her, "because I much prefer when we're both in a good mood and can work as a team. I don't like having to be stern and order you around. I can do it if I have to, but I would rather not."

Lizzie stared at him a long time, thinking about what he had said, then she practically ran into his open arms and wrapped her arms around his neck, "I missed you, Papa," she said.

"I missed you too, Lizzie" Adam said with a smile as he kissed her head.


	53. Fishing

As Lizzie and Adam walked towards the pond a rhythmic sound reached their ears, which they both recognized as a belt striking a backside. Lizzie reached out to take Adam's hand and she looked up at him with worried eyes.

"We'll make our presence known, Lizzie," Adam said as he squeezed her hand. They walked out of the trees to see Dan Hamilton tanning his son, Paul. They watched as two more blows fell on the sobbing boy. Dan stood and laced his belt back through the loops on his pants and said, "Chores first, Paul, fishing after they're finished."

"Yes, Pa," Paul sobbed.

"All right, let's go home," Dan put his hands on his hips and turned to see Lizzie and Adam. Paul rushed past them with out speaking and Lizzie watched with sympathy as he ran up the path, still in tears. Dan picked up the discarded fishing pole and the can of worms before he walked towards them.

"Adam, Lizzie," Dan said with a nod and followed his son up the path, handing Lizzie the worms as he passed her.

"Dan," Adam said nodding and pulling Lizzie closer to him as he saw the scowl on her face.

After they were both out of sight, Adam patted Lizzie's shoulder and said, "You don't like him much, do you?"

"No," Lizzie said vehemently.

"Well, that's all right, you don't have to like him, frankly I don't like him much either, but we do have to treat him with respect. He's our neighbor and he is your friend, Paul's, father. We're not going to like everyone we meet in this world, but we should always do our best to treat people with respect. So, when someone speaks to you, you need to answer them or at least nod, all right?"

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said, but continued to scowl.

"All right, let's see what we can catch," Adam said, rubbing her back. "At least we won't have to dig for worms."

"Nope," Lizzie said holding up the can and smiling. Adam cut them each a pole and Lizzie and he strung the lines, baited their hooks and threw them into the water. They sat back and got comfortable in the shade of the tree. Adam dug into the picnic basket and pulled out a leg of chicken for each of them. They sat quietly for a few minutes, eating and fishing, when Adam glanced over to see Lizzie picking at the grass next to her knee.

"What's wrong Lizzie?" He asked quietly. "Are you brooding about what happened in the tack room earlier? You know it's over and all is forgiven."

Lizzie shook her head and kept picking at the grass stems.

"Then what, honey, is it Paul?"

Lizzie glanced up at him quickly and then went back to pulling the grass.

"Getting in trouble with your parents happens to everybody. It happened to me, it happened to you this morning and you know Jenny sometimes gets in trouble with her Pa too. This afternoon was Paul's turn. You know, honey, if you had been out here fishing before finishing your chores first, the same thing would have happened to you."

"But out here?" Lizzie asked plucking at the grass blades furiously. "And with your belt?" She looked up at him through her eyelashes.

"Not Lizzie, not out here and not with my belt, but in Mr. Hamilton's defense, I think he thought they were alone and sometimes boys need a firmer hand than girls." Adam reached out to stroke Lizzie's hair. "All right?"

Lizzie nodded.

"Really all right?" Adam asked, bumping against her. "Done pulling up the grass all right?" He asked with a smile and Lizzie looked up at him and smiled.

"Good," Adam said returning his gaze to the pond, after a moment, he said, "Your eye is looking so much better, I think most of the bruising will be gone when you start back to school next week. Pull up your shirt and let me see your back."

"It's all right, Papa, it doesn't even hurt anymore," Lizzie said, keeping her back against the tree.

"Well, let me see," Adam encouraged, twirling his finger in front of her.

Lizzie sighed and leaning forward, she pulled up her shirt.

"It does look better, it's pretty and green back here, just like your eye. That means it's healing."

"How come it's green?" Lizzie asked, stuffing her shirt back in her pants, leaning back against the tree, and touching her eye.

"There are things in your blood that are colored. They're called pigments and pigments make bruises turn all sorts of pretty colors, like green."

"Do you think it'll be gone by Monday?"

"I expect so. Are you excited about going back to school? I was always excited about all the new things I could learn." Adam said smiling.

"I guess. I wish summer were longer. I didn't hardly get to ride horses at all this summer. Papa, do you think we can go riding?" Lizzie asked hopefully.

"I'm pretty much out of commission as far as horses go until my arms heal, Lizzie. I don't think I'll be riding for a while. You're going to have to ask your uncles about going with you."

Lizzie nodded sadly.

"But on the subject of horses, I have been thinking about you and I think that you are ready to have a horse of your own," Adam said casually as he looked thoughtfully at the water and tried not to smile.

"Really?" Lizzie cried, throwing herself and him and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Yes, I think you have more than proven that you know how to handle horses, if the way you drove that team when I was hurt was any indication."

"But I drove you through the trees," Lizzie said sadly, leaning back and looking at the still healing stripes across Adam's face.

"Yes you did, but that doesn't matter, because you got us on the road and headed back to the Ponderosa all by yourself and you handled that team like a pro, so I've decided you are ready to have your own horse."

"Oh, Papa, thank you!" Lizzie said as she leaned in to hug him again. "Which horse is going to be mine?"

"Well, I have been thinking a lot about that," Adam said, leaning back against the tree and getting a serious look on his face, "and I thought maybe Samson."

Lizzie looked shocked for a minute, then she shoved his shoulder when she saw his grin and said, "Papa, don't tease me like that."

Adam laughed loudly and then sobered, "Now, what exactly do you have against Sampson? He is a fine horse and just right for you." He grinned broadly and winked at her.

"Papa," Lizzie said in a scolding voice and pushing at his chest, she giggled.

"All right, which horse did you have in mind?" Adam asked seriously, sitting back and crossing his arms.

"The palomino," Lizzie said with a huge smile.

"I think that palomino is a bit more horse than you are quite ready for, but I suspect you'll be up and riding him one day in the not too distant future," Adam said with a smile.

"What about Blaze?" He asked seriously.

"Really? Blaze?" Lizzie asked earnestly. "Do you think I'm ready to ride him all the time?"

"I do," Adam said, nodding his head. "You and he seem to have a connection. I think he is just the horse for you."

"Thank you, Papa," Lizzie said, throwing her arms around his neck again.

"You're welcome, honey," Adam said hugging her back.

"Can I ride him to school?" Lizzie asked, sitting back so she could see his face.

"I don't see why not, Lizzie, he'll be yours. You'll still need to have someone with you. It's too dangerous to be out by yourself and if you ever go riding alone, you and I will have a serious problem. You'll be responsible for his care too. I know I can trust you to do that," Adam said with a smile. "And I meant what I said about not riding alone, can you promise me that?"

"Yes, Papa, I promise" Lizzie said, throwing her arms around his neck again.

"Good girl, I'll hold you to that, now settle down here next to me and let's fish," Adam said as he settled back against the tree with a smile on his face.

He couldn't help glancing over to her every now and then and his smile would widen as he saw the grin on her face and the far away look in her eyes. They fished quietly for a long time, only getting up to take a fish they had caught off the line and put it on the stringer. As time went on, Lizzie began to get restless. She finally set her pole aside and sighed. She lay back and stared up into the branches.

" Papa, do you think I could jump off that branch into the water?" She asked, pointing.

"You'd scare the fish away," Adam said absently.

"I know, but don't we have enough fish?"

"I suppose we do…" Adam said, slowly, sitting up. "All right, you'll need to take off your boots. You never want to jump into water with your boots on."

Lizzie sat up quickly and scrambled to get her boots off. She jumped up to grab the lowest branch and finally managed to scramble up and onto it.

"Now stay near the trunk until you've gone as high as you want to," Adam said, moving out from under the tree and watching her climb. He held his breath for a moment when one of her feet slipped out from under her and she grabbed on to a branch.

"You all right?" He called.

"Yes, Papa, I don't think I want to go any higher," Lizzie called.

"All right, I think you're high enough, look down. Can you see the bottom of the pond?"

"Yes," Lizzie called.

"Is there anywhere that you can't see the bottom?"

"Yes…" Lizzie called.

"Then that's the spot you want to jump into: the spot where you can't see the bottom. That means it's deep enough," Adam called. "You're going to need to get out farther on the branch so you can jump clear of the other branches."

Lizzie clung to the trunk for a while looking out at the water.

"What's wrong, honey?" Adam finally asked.

"I think I'm scared," Lizzie said softly.

"Then come down a couple of branches, so that you won't have as far to jump," Adam said encouragingly.

Lizzie climbed down until she was only about 8 feet above the water.

"I think that's a good place to jump from Lizzie, you've picked a good branch. Now all you have to do is edge out on the branch a little farther and jump in feet first."

"What if I've changed my mind?" She asked quietly as she hugged the trunk of the tree.

"Then you can come down," Adam said, "but you'll miss out on the fun of it. Sometimes scary things can be fun too, especially when you do something in spite of being scared."

Lizzie stood up abruptly and launched herself off of the branch into the deepest part of the pond. Adam felt his heart skip a beat and he rushed to the side of the pond, getting ready to go in after her if he needed to, but she came up laughing.

"Was that fun?" Adam asked with a smile.

"I want to do it again," Lizzie said excitedly as he helped her out of the pond. "It was scary, but fun!"

"I'm proud of you, Lizzie," Adam said. "You don't ever want to miss out on something because you're too scared to try it."

Lizzie giggled and then jumped five or six more times until the novelty began to wear off.

"That was fun, but I'm tired" she said after the last jump. She smiled and collapsed on her back under the tree.

Adam sat down with his back propped against the tree and began picking at the grass.

"Lizzie, honey, now school starts on Monday…and…I've been thinking about Sally," he said slowly.

"And you want me to be nice to her," Lizzie said, sitting up.

"Yes, Lizzie, but more than that. It's hard to be the new person. I was the new boy a lot as we moved across the country and it can be hard to fit in. I hope you'll introduce her to people and include her in your games," Adam took a breath, looking her in the eye. "How are you feeling about her? The truth now."

"Promise you won't get mad?" Lizzie asked, looking up at him through her eyelashes and beginning to pick at the grass blades herself.

"I promise," Adam said, looking at her hopefully.

"She's not as much of a brat as she was when she got here," Lizzie said carefully. "She's still kind of a priss though."

"I suppose," Adam said, "I think she's learning to be less of a priss and less of a brat too. I think she has it in her to be a really nice person, look at how much she's changed in the two weeks she's been here.," Adam paused, before saying, "I'm going to tell you a secret, do you think you can keep it a secret?"

"Yes, Papa, you can trust me," Lizzie said seriously leaning in.

"Most people, Sally included, want to fit in, but they have to learn how to do that. Some people figure it out really quickly and for others it takes time, but eventually they do find a group to fit in with and they start to act like everyone else in the group. It's one of the reasons I want you to be careful about the people you're friends with, because you'll end up acting just like them," he reached out and tickled her. "So, I want you to stay away from the future bank robbers and scoff laws, we Cartwrights don't want any scoff laws in the family." He winked at her when she giggled.

"What's a scoff law?"

"Someone who ignores the law and just does as he pleases. It's like they are saying, 'I don't care what the laws are just watch me break them.' I don't think you'd ever do that, would you?" He asked, touching her nose. "And I know you'd never be friends with those who do."

"No... probably not," Lizzie giggled, when Adam raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm hoping that you'll try to include Sally in your group of friends, because you and Jenny and your other friends are not prissy or bratty and I hope you can help Sally fit in so she can learn not to be prissy or bratty. I think she might be the kind that will take some time to figure things out and you'll need to be patient with her until she does. I'll bet Mr. Mason is telling Jenny the same thing."

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said quietly, looking at the ground and starting to pick at the grass again.

"Lizzie, honey," Adam said, putting his arm around her shoulders, "I'm not asking you to do anything you don't want to. I'm certainly not asking you to include Sally in everything you and your friends do, I'm just hoping that you'll keep what I said in mind and maybe help her fit in a bit…huh? You're going to be the only one she knows besides Jenny…."

"I know, Papa," Lizzie sighed.

"You're my sweet girl, Lizzie, I know you'll do what you think's best. I promise I won't bring it up again, what you do is up to you. All right?"

Lizzie nodded, still pulling at the grass.

"Dig around in that picnic basket," Adam said, nodding his head towards it, "see what else Hop Sing packed for us."

Lizzie looked up at him and he flashed her a brilliant smile, "Well, go on, we need to make the most of the summer, right? I think there may be cake." He leaned forward, trying to peer in the basket.

Lizzie giggled and hunched over the basket hiding the contents from him. She slipped the cake out of the basket and turned back to him.

"Sorry, Papa, there's no cake in the basket," she giggled.

"What?" He said, "no cake?" He snatched the basket from her and began to root around in it. "I was sure there was cake in the basket. Someone must have snuck in and taken it."

Adam grabbed her and began to tickle her.

"You wouldn't know anything about the missing cake would you?"

"No, Papa, I wouldn't," she laughed and tried to twist away. Adam allowed her to slip out of his grasp and stand up.

"Oh, look," he said, seeing the cake on the ground where she had placed it "cake." He leaned back against the tree and began eating.

Lizzie giggled again, sat down next to him and took the piece of cake he held out to her.

"Papa," she sighed, "wouldn't it be nice if we could just stay here forever?"

"Yes, it would, Lizzie," Adam said, "but probably what makes it so special is that it isn't like this all the time. If it was, we'd probably get bored of it."

"I wouldn't" Lizzie giggled.

"I'm glad you enjoyed the day, Lizzie," Adam said, nudging her with his shoulder, "I did too."


	54. The Bazaar

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny Adam and Lizzie were out doing morning chores before church services.

"Papa, can I ride Blaze to church?"

"Of course you may, you'll have to be careful how you ride though, since you'll be wearing a dress. But I definitely think you should ride Blaze to church. I'll saddle him for you and he'll be out here waiting when you're finished with breakfast," Adam said with a smile.

"Thanks, Papa," Lizzie said skipping off to finish her chores.

After breakfast the entire family was loading up,

"Come on Lizzie, time to climb aboard," Ben said, holding his arms out to her.

"I'm riding on Blaze, Grandpa. Papa said I could!" Lizzie said excitedly.

"Well, what about your dress, Lizzie? You don't want your dress to get dirty, do you?"

"But Grandpa, I ride with Papa all the time on Beauty in a dress," Lizzie said running over to Blaze.

"Adam, do you really think it's a good idea for Lizzie to ride to church in a dress?" Ben whispered quietly.

"Pa, Lizzie is excited to have a horse and I am not going to tell her no, she's right, she's ridden in front of me plenty of times in a dress, including to church," Adam said quietly.

"Adam, sometimes I think you forget you are raising a girl!" Ben said in a scolding tone.

"No, Pa, I never forget I'm raising a girl, but I'm raising a girl who loves horses and who just got her wish for a horse of her own. I'm not going to deny her the pleasure of riding her new horse regardless of how her dress may look when she arrives at church," Adam said respectfully.

"Fine!" Ben said throwing up his hands and climbing into the buggy.

Adam hid a smile and climbed up beside him. Hoss joined them and Little Joe helped Lizzie into her saddle and then mounted his horse and the family left for church.

When they arrived, Lizzie saw Jenny and dismounted quickly and was going to run to her, when Little Joe put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Whoa there, Lizzie, you need to make sure your horse is tied to the rail like he should be, you can't just drop the reins and run off."

"Sorry," Lizzie quickly looped the reins over the hitching post and getting nod from Joe, she ran over to Jenny.

"Guess, what! Papa gave me a horse," she said excitedly to Jenny. "Come see!" Lizzie grabbed Jenny's hand and started to lead her over to where Blaze was tied, when she saw Sally, John and Ruth approaching. She took a deep breath and called, "Come on, Sally, come see the horse Papa let me have!"

Sally hesitated, looking up at her mother and John.

"Well, go on," John encouraged.

Sally ran over to where Jenny and Lizzie were admiring her horse.

"This is the one you always ride, isn't it?" Sally asked.

"Yes, but he's mine now, so that makes it different," Lizzie looked up at Sally to be sure she wasn't being mean. When she saw it was just an honest question, she continued, "Blaze is the one I almost always rode before and Papa said that we have a connection so he's mine and I can ride him to school and everything!"

"You're lucky, Lizzie" Jenny said, "I live in town and Pa says there isn't much reason to have horses. We rent them when we need to go somewhere. I wish I could have a horse, though," she said with a bit of longing.

"Sorry, Jenny, but you can ride Blaze and when you come out The Ponderosa we can go riding together. You too, Sally," Lizzie said, trying to include her.

"So, girls, what do you think of Blaze?" Adam asked as he walked up to join them.

"He's beautiful, Mr. Cartwright," Jenny said promptly.

"Do you think John will let me have a horse too, Adam?" Sally asked.

"I don't know, Sally, you'll have to ask him. Not much call for a horse in town, although, I know John has one so he can do his doctoring." Adam shook his head. "I guess you'll just have to ask him." He glanced up as the church bell began to ring. "Time to go in." He smiled as the girls ran ahead of him into the church.

After the service was over, the men began setting up sheets of lumber over saw horses to make tables and baked goods and quilts and homemade jams and jellies began to appear as if from nowhere. Mr. O'Leary came out of the bar, nodding and smiling at everyone as he put pitchers of lemonade onto one of the more distant tables. He was a Catholic and did not attend services with the rest of the town, but he did always participate in the social gatherings and would willingly donate the proceeds from the lemonade to the church.

"Stick together, girls," Jim Mason called after the three girls as they headed off to explore.

"Don't go any farther than the farthest table," Adam added with a smile as he heard a chorus of yes, Pas, Papas and Adams.

"Thank you, Adam…Jim," Ruth said as she and John joined Adam, Jim, Lily and Carolyn.

"For what?" Jim asked.

"I know you spoke to the girls about including Sally," Ruth said quietly. "Thank you."

"Ah, I just mentioned that Sally was new in town and it might be nice to make her feel welcome. Lizzie asking Sally along is her own doing," Adam said, holding up his hands in surrender. Ruth smiled at him and turned to Jim and Lily.

"Don't look at us," Jim said with a smile. "All we said was that you can never have too many friends."

"Well, whatever you said, or didn't say," Ruth said, "I appreciate it."

"Come on Carolyn, I want you to show me which pies you made, so I can bid on them," Adam said, taking Carolyn's hand.

Lizzie, Jenny and Sally walked over to one of the games and compared how much money they had between them. They had each been given a nickel by their parents, so they decided to try the ring toss. They had just started throwing their rings when Jimmy Phillips walked up and began taunting them.

"So, you're hanging around with the bastard, huh?"

"You shut up, Jimmy Phillips," Lizzie shouted.

"And what if I don't? What are you going to do about it?" Jimmy asked with a smug smile and crossed his arms.

Now Jimmy had about 20 pounds on Lizzie, but Lizzie had speed on her side and before the smile left his face, she had stomped on both of Jimmy's insteps with the heel of her shoe and was about to sail in with a right fist, when she was grabbed from behind.

"Whoa, Lizzie," Adam said, pulling her back.

"Papa, he said…" Lizzie said, as she struggled in his grasp.

"I heard, honey, we need to let Jimmy and Sally's parents take care of it," Adam said interrupting her. He looked up at a frowning Dr. Fellows, an almost tearful Ruth, and he could see Brett Phillips making his way over to them.

"What's to take care of?" Mrs. Phillips said as she walked up. "My son is telling the truth, she is a bastard." She knelt down by Jimmy's side where he was writhing on the ground grabbing one foot and then the other.

"That's not nice, you shouldn't say that!" Lizzie shouted at Mrs. Phillips.

"And your daughter is very poorly behaved," Mrs. Phillips continued, looking down her nose at the struggling girl.

"Lizzie, honey, I think you are entirely right for what you are feeling and saying and I know you don't want to mind me right now, but you need to let the adults handle this. Come on, I'll buy you a lemonade."

Adam quickly steered Lizzie away from the confrontation he could see was about to happen between the Fellows and the Phillips. The Masons also steered Jenny away in the opposite directions and left them to it.

"Bastards," Mr. O'Leary said as they approached his table. He glared at the Phillips' before turning to Adam and Lizzie.

"Mr. O'Leary, that's not a nice word," Lizzie said with a giggle and felt the anger leave.

"Now, Lizzie, it isn't your place to correct adults," Adam said with laughter in his voice.

"Ah, now, Adam, the lass is right," Mr. O'Leary said as a huge smile spread across his face, "I should not be using such language in front of a lady. I need to mind me manners, but I find my hackles rising when a wee barren such as that one has to defend herself from such a harridan and her spawn. Now, two lemonades…on the house," he added when Adam moved to pull out some money, "It's my pleasure to treat a true lady and her father to a cool drink," he said with a wink and pulling out a ten cent piece, put it loudly in the till.

"Thanks, Mr. O'Leary," Lizzie said as she took the glass from the table.

"You're welcome lass, it's the least I can do."

Adam leaned against a nearby tree, took a sip of his lemonade and smiled as Carolyn came to join them.

"I heard what happened! That woman makes me so angry! She's just a little girl. It was so good of you to stand up for Sally, Lizzie," Carolyn flashed a brilliant smile at Lizzie as she came over to join them in the shade of the tree.

"I agree, but I don't think Lizzie handled it as well as she could have," Adam said looking at Lizzie with a frown.

"What are you saying Adam? Lizzie was just standing up for Sally…" Carolyn looked quizzically at Adam and then turned to look at a blushing Lizzie.

"Tell us what happened Lizzie," Adam said quietly.

Lizzie blushed again, but she started to tell the story as he had requested.

"We were playing the ring toss, Sally, Jenny and I and Jimmy Phillips came up and started to tease us about hanging around with a bastard. Sorry, Papa," Lizzie said, looking up at him.

"Go on," Adam said, nodding in understanding.

"I told him to stop and he said I had to make him and then Mrs. Phillips came up and said that what he had said was true and then everybody came over."

Adam nodded and thought quietly for a few moments. "Are you sure you aren't leaving something out?"

"Like what?" Lizzie said, looking down at the ground and kicking at it.

"Lizzie," Adam warned.

"When he said I had to make him stop…I stomped on his feet," Lizzie said quietly.

"And you would have punched him if I hadn't stopped you," Adam added firmly.

"But he was being mean, Papa, and he and Mrs. Phillips shouldn't have said those things."

"You're right, they shouldn't have said those things, but right now we are talking about you and your behavior," Adam crossed his arms and frowned at her, before he relented and reached out to cup her face, "I think your fun for the day is over. I want you to take your lemonade and sit on that bench under the tree over there. You're not to get up until we're ready to leave. Do you hear?"

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said sadly as she moved to obey him.

"Adam, you can't punish that child for standing up to a bully!" Carolyn said fiercely.

"Lizzie, wait," Adam called. "Carolyn, I appreciate you standing up for Lizzie, but I don't think you understand." He paused and looked at Lizzie. "Lizzie, tell Carolyn why I'm sending you to sit on the bench."

"For stomping on Jimmy's feet," Lizzie said sadly.

"And why was that wrong, honey?"

"'Cause ladies don't get into fights," Lizzie said.

"Yes, honey," Adam said with a nod, "I am proud of you for standing up for Sally, neither Jimmy nor Mrs. Phillips should have said those things about Sally, but unless Jimmy was going to throw a punch, you should have kept your hands, feet, and your temper in check. Right?"

Lizzie nodded sadly.

"All right, go on now," Adam said, giving her shoulder a squeeze.

Carolyn and Adam watched Lizzie as she slowly made her way to the bench.

"I'm not trying to tell you how to raise your daughter, Adam, but do you think you're being fair?"

"Carolyn," Adam said, taking Carolyn in his arms, "I like that you are standing up to me about how I am treating Lizzie. My family does the same thing and I appreciate it. It keeps me mindful of how I am treating her and what she needs from me," Adam took a breath and raised an eyebrow. "I wish you had done it a little more privately and out of Lizzie's hearing, but regardless, I am glad that you did it. Now, Lizzie has a bit of a temper if you haven't noticed," he said with a smile, "and she and I are working diligently to help her learn to express her anger appropriately. No matter how you slice it, taking on a boy twenty pounds heavier, who didn't throw the first punch, is not acceptable, regardless of the circumstances. The last time Lizzie threw a punch, I told her I would spank her if it happened again. I think she knows I am going easy on her due to extenuating circumstances and I expect she sees sitting under that tree as mercy."

"You spank that child?" Carolyn said in horror, "my parents never…"

'Well, I do, rarely, but I do," Adam said with conviction.

"But, she's just a little girl…" Carolyn said sadly.

"I know, she is just a little girl, but sometimes she needs her papa to be firm with her. She knows I love her to distraction and she also knows that when she does dangerous things…. that she has been told not to do…like getting into a fistfight, especially with a boy that is older and heavier than she is, that she'll be spanked. It's not like the spankings come as a surprise, Carolyn. Lizzie knows when she's earned one."

"Adam, I don't understand, my parents never laid a hand on me. I think it would have frightened me to death to be spanked."

"Carolyn, every child is raised differently, my own Pa raised me and my brothers differently from each other. I am raising Lizzie in a different way than I was raised. I like to think I'm doing a pretty good job," he raised an eyebrow and when she nodded, he went on, "I don't think she's been scarred for life the few times I've taken her over my knee. She doesn't seem scared of me, does she? She's certainly not timid about trying things or telling me what she thinks, and she's well behaved isn't she?"

"Well, yes," Carolyn said, nodding, "she just looks so sad and lonely over there."

"Well," he said taking her in his arms and kissing her, "she won't be sad and lonely too long. In a few more minutes, I'm going to go over and make sure she knows she's loved and forgiven and we'll talk about what she should do differently in the future," Adam smiled, "Now, don't worry honey, Lizzie will come through this just fine and thank you, for being such a good friend to Lizzie."

Carolyn smiled and kissed him and then looked over her shoulder at Lizzie.

"All right," Adam put his hand up in surrender, "I'll go talk to her."

Carolyn watched with a smile as Adam walked over the bench and lifted Lizzie onto his lap.

"You are a dear, sweet, fair lady, Lizzie," Adam said as he drew her into his lap. "Sally is lucky to have you as a friend."

"Really, Papa?"

"Yes, really, " Adam said, nodding.

"You are also a very smart girl to know that you are over here under the tree only because of the fighting and not for anything else you did today."

"Not even for yelling at Mrs. Phillips?"

"Well, considering the circumstances, I think it was warranted," Adam said, "you probably shouldn't make a habit of telling adults how to behave or what to say, but Mrs. Phillips should know better, so I think you were right to speak up. I am very glad that you didn't walk away and leave Sally to defend herself. That was definitely the right thing to do. Next time, though, I expect you to wait for the first punch to be thrown. Do you understand why?"

"I should use my words and mind instead of my fists," Lizzie recited dutifully.

"Exactly," Adam said with a smile. "Like it or not, that is how ladies should behave and it is what I expect from you. I've told you, losing you temper and throwing the first punch is cause for a spanking."

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said sadly, putting her head in his lap and pulling her legs up onto the bench. "Are you going to spank me when we get home?"

"Well, Lizzie," Adam said, letting his hand drop onto her hip, " I probably should…"

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said sitting up and crossing her arms over her chest protectively.

Adam reached out to take her chin and looked deeply into her eyes as if he was searching from something. "I probably should, but I'm not going to. You were standing up for a friend."

"Oh, thank you, Papa," Lizzie said, throwing herself into his arms.

"Now, wait just a minute," Adam said, disengaging himself and putting her on her feet, and taking her chin in his hand again, "fighting is never the answer to a problem and you taking on a boy who is bigger and stronger than you was risky, fool hearty and could have gotten you seriously hurt. Jimmy Phillips is a classmate and you need to get along with him irrespective of what you think of him or his mother. I expect better from you and I will spank you if you ever start a fistfight with someone again. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said nodding.

"All right, what do you intend to do about your bad behavior?"

"Do you think I should apologize to Mrs. Phillips and Jimmy?"

"Yes, Lizzie, I do, but that's up to you," Adam said seriously.

"What should I apologize for?" She asked, looking up at him through her lashes.

"Well, what do you think you did wrong?" Adam asked, leaning back against the tree and crossing his arms.

"I shouldn't have stomped on Jimmy's feet…and I shouldn't have yelled at Mrs. Phillips."

"What about what you said to Mrs. Phillips, are you sorry about that?"

Lizzie thought a long moment and then taking a step back, she said, "No" in a worried voice.

"Then apologize for being disrespectful and leave it at that," Adam said nodding.

"Should I go now?"

"If they are still here at the bazaar and they aren't speaking to anyone, then yes, I think you should go now." Adam said standing, "Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, Papa, I don't want them to think you're making me apologize. Is that all right?" Lizzie asked earnestly.

"Of course, Lizzie, that is very grown up of you. Now, come give me a hug, Honey, and come right back to find me when you're done, no dawdling, no talking to friends, and no side tracking, the bazaar is over for you," Adam said holding out his arms to her.

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said as she hugged him and then ran off to find the Phillips.

Adam walked back over to where Carolyn had been watching them. As he drew near, Carolyn put her arms around his waist and kissed his cheek.

"What was that for?" Adam asked with a smile.

"I knew you were a good man and a good father, Adam. That didn't go how I expected it to and I'm sorry I tried to tell you how to handle your daughter."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she isn't under the tree anymore, despite you telling her she had to stay there until you left and I didn't see any spanking going on…" Carolyn said, kissing his cheek again.

"Well, she has only gone to find the Jimmy and Mrs. Phillips to apologize and then she is to come and find me, she knows the bazaar is over for her and as far as the spanking goes, if I were to do it, it would be in private."

"So, you're still going to spank her?" Carolyn asked, taking a step away.

"No," Adam said, pushing his hat back, "I only spank her when I am convinced she deserves it and she's convinced of the same thing. In this case I'm torn, she shouldn't have gotten in a fistfight, but I can't set aside my feelings about what Jimmy and Mrs. Phillips said. I'm not sure how I would have responded if I had been there, but I'm pretty sure I would have had some words with the two of them and that Jimmy Phillips is a bully. If I were his father, we would be looking for a woodshed. I know I probably shouldn't feel this way and if you ever tell Lizzie…" he looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Tell Lizzie what?"

"I'm sort of proud the way that Lizzie blindsided Jimmy and got in some licks. He had it coming, but I'd rather Lizzie not resort to her fists when someone behaves badly."

"Your secret is safe with me, Adam," Carolyn said with a giggle.

"Papa, Papa," Lizzie called as she ran up to them. "I didn't get to apologize because the Phillips' already went home. Should I go to their house?"

"No, honey, you can talk to Jimmy tomorrow at school. Make sure you do it inside the schoolroom so neither you or Jimmy will be tempted to get into another fight. I'm sure you'll get a chance to speak to Mrs. Phillips sometime soon. So, back to the bench," Adam said, inclining his head towards the bench.

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie sighed and slowly walked back to the bench.

Adam held his hand out to Carolyn and with one last sad look at Lizzie, she took it and they went off to explore the bazaar.

Lizzie was quickly bored sitting on the bench. She picked at it for a while and then she lay down on it and was moving to lay down on her other side when Jim Mason came up. She sat up and scooted over so he could sit next to her.

"In trouble with your papa, huh?" He asked sympathetically.

"Yes, Mr. Mason, he doesn't like me to fight," Lizzie said sadly.

"Not very lady like, I guess," Mr. Mason said nodding.

"That's what he said," Lizzie whispered.

"Well, I will tell you a secret. Sally and her family were really glad that you stuck up for her and I suspect your papa is too, although, you probably shouldn't have stomped on Jimmy's feet."

"That's what Papa said too and that's why I'm sitting on this bench," Lizzie looked up at him to see him smiling at her.

"Probably should have used the Apache tear, huh? Might have kept you off the bench," Mr. Mason said with a laugh.

Lizzie nodded ruefully.

"Well, I'm proud of you too for standing up for Sally." He reached out and tousled her hair. "I'll see you later, Lizzie" Mr. Mason said as he stood and walked back to the bazaar.

"Thanks, Mr. Mason," Lizzie called after him.

Over the next fifteen minutes, Lizzie had a number of visitors from the town. All of them telling her they were proud of how she acted and none of those visits went unnoticed by Adam.

Adam was starting to get tired and had sought out a bench to sit on with Carolyn when Ben came to find them.

"Are you worn out?" Ben asked.

"Yes, Pa, I don't think I quite have my full strength back, but I don't mind the company here in the shade." He reached out to squeeze Carolyn's hand.

Ben glanced over to Lizzie who was lying down on the bench.

"She's had quite a few visitors," Ben said, raising an eyebrow.

"I know, it's giving me a lot of hope for Sally that so many people seem to support Lizzie's actions. I just hope Lizzie isn't getting a swellhead from all the attention. I think I want her to ride back in the buggy with us so that I can talk to her some more. I'm hoping Hoss will ride Blaze back."

"Oh, I'm sure he will. I'll go find him and we can meet up at the buggy. All right?"

"Sure, Pa," Adam said as he stood, "Can I see you on Wednesday?" Adam asked planting a soft kiss on Carolyn's lips.

"Yes, Adam, I would like that," Carolyn said, standing.

"Seven o'clock?" Adam asked.

"Perfect," she said, stepping away from him as he held on to her hand, finally dropping it as she walked away.

Adam walked over to Lizzie and said, "Come on Lizzie, time to go home. You'll be riding back in the buggy with your grandpa and me and Hoss will ride Blaze home."

"But, Papa, I want to ride Blaze…" Lizzie whined.

"Elizabeth, do you think it's wise to whine at me right now?" Adam asked in a low voice.

"No," Lizzie said throwing her arms by her side.

Adam raised his eyebrow and held out his hand to her. She reluctantly took it and followed him to the buggy.

They were soon on the road, with Lizzie in the front seat of the buggy between Adam and Ben.

"Lizzie," Adam said quietly, "I saw you had a lot of visitors at your bench."

"Yes, Papa, should I have told them to go away? Was it not allowed?" Lizzie asked in a worried voice.

"No, Lizzie, I'm just curious what they said to you," Adam said, picking up her hand to hold it.

"They mostly said they were proud of me. Mr. Mason said I should have used the Apache tear." Lizzie said seriously.

"And what did you say to them?"

"I thanked them…was that all right?" Lizzie asked, looking down at her shoes.

"Yes, Lizzie that was exactly what you should have said. I'm curious though. After all those visitors, I'm wondering what you're thinking about what happened today," Adam said, raising his eyebrows.

Lizzie looked down at her shoes and thought about things. She finally looked up at him and said, "I know I shouldn't have stomped on Jimmy's feet. I remember you told me about Grandpa and the teacher that only taught the white children." She glanced up at her grandpa and he smiled at her. "I remember you said that 'cause he didn't yell, that the town and the teacher listened to him. Is that right?" Lizzie asked.

"Yes, Lizzie, I remember telling you that," Adam said squeezing her hand and nodding.

"So, I think that Mrs. Phillips and Jimmy still think that Sally's bad and a bastard and even though the town thinks what I did was good, they're just mad at me," Lizzie put her head in Adam's lap.

"So, you think that yelling at them and stomping on Jimmy's feet didn't help how they felt about Sally?"

"No, Papa," Lizzie said sadly.

"I'm afraid you're right, Lizzie," Adam said just as sadly.

"Do you think when I apologize I should try to talk to them?"

"You can try, honey, but I don't want you to be too disappointed if they don't change their minds," Adam said stroking Lizzie's head. "And if you're going to try and change their minds, Lizzie, I want to go with you."

Lizzie sat up, "Why? I can do it myself."

"I know you can, Lizzie, but they may not like what you say to them and I think that we might be more successful talking to them about it if we go together, all right?"

Lizzie nodded and put her head back in Adam's lap. He looked up to see Ben's eyes looking with pride at his granddaughter and Adam's eyes were just as proud.


	55. Sunday Evening

"Lizzie, run inside and change your clothes. I need to speak to your grandpa in private. We'll be inside in a few minutes," Adam said as they entered the yard of The Ponderosa.

"All right, Papa," Lizzie said nervously as she climbed down out of the buggy.

"It's all right, honey, you're a good girl." He smiled at her as she ran inside.

Adam turned to Ben who was leaning back against the seat with his arms crossed.

"Pa, I was hoping I might impose on you a bit this evening. I hate that I had to cut Lizzie's fun at the bazaar short. Today's her last day of freedom before school starts and I wanted her to enjoy the day, but I can't have her getting into fist fights." Adam sighed.

"I know, Adam, sometimes it's hard to provide discipline for a child," Ben said, then paused, "especially when you sort of agree with what they did, huh?" Ben arched an eyebrow at Adam.

"Well, yes, I suppose that's true, but I'm not going to raise a child whose first inclination is to sail in with her fists when she gets angry about something."

"Good luck with that, son, I hope you have more success than I did with your brother, Joseph," Ben said wryly.

"That doesn't give me much comfort," Adam said, sitting back and crossing his arms over his chest.

"I think that the fact that you're raising a girl may help a bit in that direction, although, I do think you may need to get tougher on her if it happens again," Ben said shaking his head. "As much as I hate to say it."

"I know, Pa," Adam said, staring off into space and thinking about Lizzie. "She does need to control her impulses and I guess I'm hoping she'll learn to do that without some stern motivation from me in that area. This has been a hard one since she comes by her temper honestly."

"Ah, you always seem to give Lizzie just what she needs and I have confidence that you'll do the same in this situation," Ben clapped him on the shoulder, then changed the subject. "You had said you had a favor you wanted to ask?"

"Yes, Pa," Adam said snapping out of his reverie. "I've asked the Masons to dinner tonight and since I didn't want today to end without some sort of fun for Lizzie, I was hoping you might take Lizzie and Jenny up to that cave the bats use. I think it's about the right time of year to see the bats fly out and I think she and Jenny and whoever else might like to go would enjoy that. You'd have to go up on horseback or I'd take her myself. Would you be willing to take her, Pa?"

"Of course I would, Adam. I think Hoss and Joe should be home in time to go along as well. I'm sorry that your arms won't allow you to come along. I think it's a fine idea."

"Thanks, Pa. I'll go in and tell her," Adam said as he climbed down out of the buggy, giving his father a grin.

Adam walked through the kitchen to let Hop Sing know that there would be guests for dinner, then came into the main room and took a seat in his chair, just as Lizzie came down the stairs.

"Lizzie, honey, come over here, I want to talk to you," Adam said quietly.

When Lizzie drew near, he pulled her into his lap.

"Lizzie we've already talked about you not starting any fights, and I want to be sure you know that you are never, ever to throw the first punch," Adam said firmly.

"I know, Papa," Lizzie said nodding.

"Good…" Adam said and arched an eyebrow keeping her gaze until she finally looked down at her hands.

"I was also thinking about tomorrow," Adam said after a moment, "and I think it would be best if you and I stop by the Phillips' house before school so that you can make your apologies. Do you think that's a good idea?"

Lizzie swallowed deeply and didn't take her eyes off her hands.

"Lizzie," Adam said softly, "have you changed your mind about apologizing?"

"No, Papa," Lizzie said, twisting her hands in her lap.

"Then, what?" Adam asked.

"I'm just nervous. I wish I could have apologized today and have it over with," Lizzie said, glancing up at him through her eyelashes.

"I know, honey, it's always harder the longer you wait, but I think it would be easier than waiting until school and you can make your apologies to both Mrs. Phillips and Jimmy," Adam said kissing the top of her head. "All right?"

When Lizzie nodded, Adam said, "Good. Now about tonight…"

"Tonight?" Lizzie asked, looking up at him quickly.

"Yes," Adam said with a smile, "I didn't want the summer to end without one more good memory, so I've asked the Masons to supper and your grandpa said that he would take you to the bat cave. Does that sound like fun?"

"Really?" Lizzie asked happily and hugged him, "will you come too?"

"I can't, Lizzie, my arms aren't healed enough to let me ride up there, but Grandpa will go and maybe your Uncle Joe or your Uncle Hoss, along with Jenny and I expect Mr. Mason will want to go too."

"I love you!" Lizzie said with abandon, hugging him tighter.

"I love you too!" Adam said just as enthusiastically. "Now, go get busy with your chores so they'll be done before our guests arrive, all right?"

Lizzie jumped out of his lap and ran out the door without another word.

* * *

><p>The Mason's arrived late in the afternoon and Lizzie and Jenny quickly ran off to the barn, leaving the adults with barely a word.<p>

"You'd think that hadn't seen each other in years," Jim Mason laughed.

"I think Lizzie needs to be reminded of how to greet guests," Ben said with a growl.

"Oh, Pa, she knows the Masons aren't guests, they're family," Adam said with a smile as he took Lily's arm. "Besides it's been almost half a day since Lizzie saw Jenny, they need some time to catch up."

"Hey, Will," Hoss said, squatting down, "you wanna go see some horses? We got a pretty little filly who's just waiting for an apple from you."

"Can I, Ma?' Will asked earnestly.

"Of course," Lily said she said as she ruffled his hair and then allowed Adam to lead her into the house.

Jenny and Lizzie had run into the barn and up into the loft to see Lady's kittens.

"How old are they?" Jenny asked as they began picking each one up and playing with them.

"Dunno, three weeks maybe?"

"Do you think I could have one?" Jenny asked as she picked up a tortoise shell colored one.

"Yes, if your folks say you can, Papa won't let me keep any of them. He says that we only get to have one cat," Lizzie sighed.

"Are you in big trouble with your papa? I saw that he made you sit under the tree. My pa told me I wasn't allowed to go talk to you, but I sure was glad that you gave that bully, Jimmy Phillips, what he had coming to him."

"Papa was pretty upset at me for stomping on Jimmy's feet…" Lizzie said shyly.

"Did he spank you?" Jenny asked quietly.

"No," Lizzie said with a blush, "but he said if I get into a fight again he will.

"My ma and pa doesn't want me to get into fights either, but I just hate that Jimmy Phillips. I'll bet we could get him into trouble once school starts."

"I don't know Jenny, I don't want to get into trouble because of him, but it would be fun to see" Lizzie said with a quiet giggle.

"Not big trouble, just something small. I'll bet we could think of something and if we get caught we can say it was just a joke."

"Getting Jimmy into trouble and then lying about it is not the best plan I've ever heard, Jenny." They heard a male voice say.

Lizzie and Jenny both looked quickly towards the ladder leading into the loft and saw Joe's head popping up.

"Hi, Uncle Joe," Lizzie said, blushing.

"Hi," Joe said with a frown, "planning how you'd like to get even with someone is all right. I used to do it myself when someone got me angry enough, but it's a far cry from actually doing it. It's double the trouble for you two: get in trouble at school and get in trouble at home, right Lizzie?"

"I guess," Lizzie said, staring at the floor.

"You guess?" Joe asked in an angry tone.

"Yes, Uncle Joe, I've never gotten into trouble at school. We were just talking," Lizzie whined.

Well, you two better be sure it never goes farther than just talking," Joe said staring at them with a frown. "Now, supper's ready, time to come down and wash up."

"Yes, Sir," the girls said together as they watched his head disappear down the ladder. Jenny and Lizzie glanced at each other and waited a few moments to be sure that Joe was out of the barn before they climbed down the ladder.

They washed their hands at the pump in the yard and ran inside to find the adults moving towards the table.

"Come on girls," Ben said as he took a seat. As they approached the table, they both saw Joe frowning at them and they ducked their heads as they took their seats.

"We are just so pleased that you could come to join us," Ben said heartily.

"We always enjoy coming out to The Ponderosa, Ben," Lily said with a smile. "The children always have such a good time here."

"Well, we have special plans after dinner tonight. I thought the girls might like to go up to a cave nearby and watch the bats fly out. There are so many, it darkens the sky," Adam said.

"Oh, that sounds fun," Jenny said, nudging Lizzie and giggling. "I've never seen a bat up close."

The conversation turned to animals they had seen and wanted to see and soon dinner was over.

"Well, I guess it's time to head off to the cave and see if we can catch the fly out," Ben said putting his hands on the table and standing up.

"I'll clear the table for you tonight, Lizzie," Adam whispered.

Lizzie looked up at him with a huge smile, "Thanks, Papa," she reached over to hug him.

"You're welcome, go and have a good time!"

"Will and I will be happy to help with that chore too, Adam, since we'll be staying here with you," Lily said as she stood and started to collect the plates.

"You're a guest, Lily, I can handle it," Adam said coming around to take the plates out of her hands and giving her a smile. "Perhaps you'd like to find a game that Will might like to play, since it will be just the three of us. There are some over by the fireplace." He indicated the direction with his head and then turned to go into the kitchen.

"Ma, I want to go see the bats," Will said vehemently.

"Oh, Will," Lily said shaking her head, "I don't know."

"I want to go too!" Will whined. "Pa, tell her I can go! You'd let me go, won't you?"

Jim took a big breath and sighed before he said, "Will, your mother always makes good decisions for you, so I am sure whatever she decides I will agree with."

"But I want to go," Will said as he threw himself back into a dining room chair.

Jim walked over and picked Will up. Taking the seat himself, he settled Will into his lap.

"Son, I'm going to tell you a secret. Your mother is still making up her mind about whether or not she is going to let you go," Jim said and glanced up at Lily. "The secret is that whining, almost always will result in a no. What I suggest is that you go over and ask your ma very politely if you can go and remind her that your pa is going to be there and will keep a sharp eye out for you. All right?"

Will nodded and climbed out of his lap and walked over to his mother.

"Ma, please can I go?" He begged. "Pa said he'd be there…" Will finished with a bit of a whine.

Lily reached out to stroke his cheek, before she said with a soft smile, "Well, since your pa's going to be there, I supposed it will be all right, but I expect you to stay with him the whole time and not stray. Promise?" Lily asked glancing up at Jim as she said it.

"Yes, Ma. I promise! Thank you!" He jumped up and down and ran over to where his father was still seated at the table. "Ma said I could go! I just have to stay with you."

"Wonderful!" Jim said excitedly. "We'll stick together just like she asked, right?" He looked up at Lily and winked.

"Right!"

"Well, now that that's settled, let's load up," Ben said with a smile.

They walked outside to find that Joe had three horses saddled and ready to go.

"Where's Blaze?" Lizzie asked.

"I think it's best that we ride together tonight. It will be getting dark by the time we come back and I don't think you're quite ready to ride at night yet, Lizzie. You'll ride with me, Jenny can ride with your Uncle Joe and Jim, if you feel comfortable you and Will can ride together?"

"That sounds fine, Ben, I think I can sit a horse well enough," Jim said, picking Will up and depositing him in the saddle.

"It isn't far and the trail is clear, so you shouldn't have any trouble at all," Ben said, picking up Lizzie and putting her in the saddle.

Jenny hung back a bit when she realized she would be riding with Joe. He gave her a smile and after swinging her into the saddle, he mounted up behind her. "You don't need to worry," he whispered, "I don't intend to scold you further about what I over heard in the barn. It was between us and I won't mention it again as long as nothing happens to Jimmy. All right?"

Jenny nodded tensely, but when Joe patted her leg she relaxed back against him and enjoyed the short ride to the cave.

They dismounted and got settled just as the bats began to slowly exit the cave. It soon became a sea of black bodies flying and swooping and turning in the twilight sky. Everyone was mesmerized with the display and were so taken with how many bats there were that they didn't realize it was slowing and then stopping.

"I want to go inside," Lizzie announced eagerly.

"All right," Ben said, "you'll need to tie my neckerchief around your mouth and nose, so that you don't breath in any of the dust."

"I want to go too!" Jenny said, looking at her father who nodded.

"All right," Jim said, pulling his handkerchief out of his pocket to tie around her face.

"Joseph, the lantern is on my saddle horn, so you can take the girls," Ben said.

"Yes, Sir, Pa," Joe said lighting the lantern, then tying his own neckerchief around his mouth and nose, "The bats will think we're coming to hold them up!" He said with a laugh as he looked around at the two girls, who laughed nervously.

"I want to go too!" Will said loudly.

"No, Sir," John said, "We promised your ma that we'd stick together and I'm not going into that cave."

"But Jenny gets to go!"

"Yes, she gets to go, but you and I will be staying out here. You don't want to break our promise to your ma do you?"

"No," Will said grumpily.

"Good man," Jim said heartily.

Jenny was glad the handkerchief covered her mouth because she smiled in relief that Will wasn't coming. She thought it was better that it was just she and Lizzie who were going to go. She loved her little brother, but sometimes he was a pest.

Ben, Jim and Will watched the three of them walk slowly to the cave and watched the light disappear as they went inside. About ten minutes later they emerged, removing the neckerchiefs from their faces and smiling.

"What did you see? Was it fun?" Jim asked eagerly as they drew closer.

"There were a couple of bats and lots of babies!" Lizzie said excitedly.

"They were all over the ceiling!" Jenny said excitedly. "That's why we didn't stay very long, we didn't want to upset the babysitters."

"Babysitters?" Ben asked.

"That's what Mr. Cartwright called them," Jenny giggled. "He said that he thought there were probably a few adults who stayed to watch the babies while the parents are out on a date." She giggled again.

"Well, he may very well be right," Ben said, getting to his feet. "We should probably head back though, since tomorrow is a school day."

"Ah, did you have to remind us?" Lizzie said sadly.

"Sorry, Lizzie," Ben said tousling her hair and putting her up in the saddle.

They rode quickly back to The Ponderosa and after a few good byes and thank yous the Masons loaded up in their buggy to head back to town.

Hop Sing had prepared a bath for Lizzie and Adam quickly had Lizzie bathed and in bed.

"Did you have fun tonight?" Adam asked as he pulled the covers up.

"Yes, Papa, thank you for inviting Jenny over and for letting me go see the bats."

"You're welcome, Honey, I'm glad you had such a good time. Good night," he said, kissing her cheek, "pleasant dreams and I'll see you in the morning."

Lizzie dutifully closed her eyes, but as she thought about her day, she began to worry about what her Uncle Joe has said to Jenny and her in the barn. She had seen how reticent Jenny had been to ride with her Uncle Joe at first, but she had seemed to get over it so Lizzie thought it was probably over and done with, but the more she thought about it the more worried she got. Lizzie tossed and turned for over an hour before she finally got up to find her Uncle Joe.

"Uncle Joe?" Lizzie said quietly as she stood in his doorway.

Joe looked up at Lizzie in her white nightgown and messed hair and said, "What are you doing up? You should have been asleep an hour ago."

"I know, but can I talk to you?"

Joe frowned, "Of course, what's wrong?" He beckoned with his hand for her to come into the room.

Lizzie slowly closed the door and took a couple of steps into the room.

"It must be serious if you're closing the door," Joe said with a slight smile.

"Are you mad at me?" Lizzie asked, looking at him intently.

"Mad at you, why do you think I'm mad at you?"

"Because of what happened in the barn…" Lizzie said, staring at the floor.

"Come over there, Lizzie," Joe said, putting his pencil down. "No, I'm not mad at you, you haven't done anything wrong."

"Then how come I feel guilty?" She asked, walking over to him and allowing him to pull her up on his knee.

"Because you are a sweet girl, Lizzie and your conscience is bothering you. You're not the type to take your temper out on people like you and Jenny were talking about."

"But I get in trouble with Papa about my temper all the time," Lizzie said, looking up at him with questioning eyes.

"It's true, you do have that Cartwright temper, but what I'm talking about is planning to do something unkind as opposed to your temper flashing and you saying something you shouldn't. You and Jenny were talking about planning something mean to do to Jimmy Phillips, weren't you?" When Lizzie dropped her head and stared at the buttons on his shirt, Joe gently lifted her chin to draw her eyes back to him and continued. "That you thought about intentionally getting Jimmy Phillips in trouble because you're angry about the way her treated Sally is what's bothering your conscience. It's vengeful and you are too kind a person to want to take revenge like that. Aren't you?"

Lizzie nodded.

"Like I told you in the barn, I have thought the same sorts of things and I always felt bad about myself for thinking them and when I acted on them, I felt even worse."

Lizzie's eyes opened wider, "You acted on them?"

"I'm not proud to say it, Lizzie, but I've taken revenge on people and it still bothers me. You don't want to go down that path, Honey. I've found, as I have gotten older, that life has a way of taking care of the Jimmys of the world. It's always better to not act on those feelings. You're much wiser than I was, Lizzie, your conscience is bothering you and you already don't want to get even with Jimmy, do you?"

"No, not really, but he was just so mean to Sally."

"Trust me, honey, Jimmy's not going to get away with behaving like that. At some point in his life, he'll pay for it and you won't have to do a thing. You've got a good conscience and it's a good thing that you're listening to it," Joe set her on her feet, "Now, do you think you can get to sleep? Do you feel better?"

"Yes, Uncle Joe, as long as you're not mad with me," Lizzie said as she reached out to hug him.

"I am not angry with you," He reassured her. "Do you want me to tuck you in?"

"No, I can do it," Lizzie said as she let go of his neck.

"All right, sleep well and I'll see you in the morning. I love you," Joe said turning back to his desk and picking up his pencil.

"I love you too."

Lizzie left his room and was making her way back to her own, when Adam came up the stairs.

"What are you doing out of bed? It's late," Adam said with a frown.

"I know, Papa. I'm sorry. I couldn't sleep and I needed to talk to Uncle Joe," Lizzie said, avoiding his eyes.

"It couldn't wait until morning?" Adam asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"No, Papa, I couldn't have slept," Lizzie said ashamedly.

"Is there something you need to tell me?" Adam asked, cupping her face.

"No, Papa," Lizzie said, turning to go into her room.

"Are you sure?" Adam asked following her and lifting the bed covers so she could climb in.

"I'm sure," Lizzie said, snuggling down into the pillows and looking up at him.

Adam raised an eyebrow and looked at her for a long while, before he said, "All right, sleep well."

He leaned down to kiss her and left the room, closing the door behind him, then walked down the hall to Joe's room.

"Hey, Joe, Lizzie said she was in here talking to you. Is there anything I need to know?" Adam asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, Adam. Lizzie just had something that she wanted to discuss with me," Joe said, not looking up for his paperwork.

"She seemed to be a little ashamed about something. She hasn't done something wrong has she?"

"No, Adam and if she had, I would be telling you about it. You're her Papa and you need to know about those times that she's gotten herself in trouble. I have always told you when she's stepped out of line and this time is no different. What we discussed isn't something you need to know about," Joe met Adam's eyes directly and didn't look away.

"All right," Adam said with a sigh, "I'll trust your judgment on that."

"Curiosity killed the cat, big brother," Joe said with a grin, as he turned back to his desk.

"Indeed," Adam said, once again raising his eyebrow and grimacing before leaving and closing the door quietly behind him.


	56. The First Day of School

"Wake up, honey. Time to get up," Adam said as he gently rubbed Lizzie's hip. "Time to get ready for school."

"No" Lizzie said, pulling the covers up over her head.

"I'm afraid so," Adam said with a smile, pulling the covers from her hands. "Up and at 'em."

"It's too early," Lizzie said grumpily, rolling away from his hands and putting her head under the pillows.

"We need to get an early start so that we'll have time to stop at the Phillips' before school." Adam reached out to lift the pillow.

When Lizzie curled into a ball, Adam scooped her up and put her on her feet.

"You are grumpy because you didn't get enough sleep last night, I think maybe an earlier bedtime tonight will put you to rights," Adam said with a slight frown.

"No, I'm up and I got enough sleep," Lizzie said grumpily.

"I'll reconsider it if you get dressed and get rid of the grumpy attitude by the time you come downstairs," Adam said as he walked towards the door. "Don't dawdle, we need to be out the door early today."

Lizzie folded her arms over her chest, but went to her wardrobe to pick out her clothes when Adam raised an eyebrow at her.

"Good girl," he said, walking out and closing the door behind him.

Lizzie joined everyone at the table relatively quickly. "Morning, morning, morning," she said kissing each of her uncles and her grandpa before sitting down next to her father.

"Morning," Adam said, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

"Morning, Papa," she said with a smile and then giggled at the pancakes that were sitting at her place. Hop Sing had poured them into animal shapes.

"Thanks, Hop Sing," Lizzie said happily when she saw Hop Sing peeking at her from behind the kitchen door.

"You do good in school today, Missy," he said with a nod.

"I will," Lizzie said, finishing up her pancakes quickly.

"Uncle Joe's going to take care of your chores this morning, Lizzie and your Uncle Hoss will drive us into town in the buggy…"

"But…." Lizzie interrupted.

Adam held up his hand to stop her from interrupting further and said, "Whoever comes to get you after school will bring Blaze so you can ride him home."

Lizzie smiled, "Thanks, Papa."

After breakfast, Lizzie ran upstairs to finish getting ready and she was just about to make her way back downstairs when she saw her grandpa standing in the doorway.

"Hi Grandpa," she said coming over to him.

"Well, hi Lizzie," he said with a smile. "Come over here, I wanted to talk to you a minute before you head off to school," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder and leading her over to the rocking chair.

"About what?" Lizzie asked as she climbed into his lap.

"Well," he said slowly, brushing her bangs out of her eyes, "I wanted to tell you how proud I am of you."

"Thanks, Grandpa. I know you're proud of me," Lizzie said with a blush.

"I'm very proud to have you as my granddaughter, but I was especially proud of how brave you were yesterday," he said and raised his eyebrows.

"Yesterday?"

"Yes, what you did, standing up for Sally yesterday was very brave. Lots of people would have just let Sally fend for herself, but you stood up to a bully and that was brave. Doing the right thing isn't always easy and sometimes it can be down right scary," he said with a chuckle.

"Thanks, Grandpa," Lizzie said hugging him around the neck.

"I agree with your grandpa," Adam said, leaning in the doorway. "I guess you've been listening to the things you've been hearing in church."

"What do you mean?" Lizzie asked, turning to look at him.

"Just that a lot of what you hear in church is about doing the right thing and watching out for the people around you and bravely doing what you should even when it means standing up to people who may be bigger or stronger or more powerful than you and that's what you did for Sally. I hope you'll always do that, Lizzie."

"Me too," Ben said putting Lizzie on her feet, "time to head off for school. Have a good day."

"I will, Grandpa," Lizzie said, hugging his waist as he stood and then heading downstairs with Adam following.

Soon they were on their way into town and the closer they got, the quieter Lizzie got.

"Nervous?" Adam asked putting his arm around her shoulders.

Lizzie nodded.

"Just do your best to apologize, that's all you can do."

"I know, Papa," Lizzie said in a nervous voice.

As they pulled into the Phillips' yard, they saw Brett Phillips feeding the animals; he propped his pitchfork against a nearby corral and walked over to the buggy.

"Adam, Hoss…Lizzie," he said greeting each of them in turn. "What brings you out so early this morning?"

"Good morning, Mr. Phillips," Lizzie said, "I wanted to come apologize for what happened after church yesterday. I shouldn't have jumped on Jimmy or spoken disrespectfully to Mrs. Phillips."

"Indeed you should not have," Mr. Phillips said angrily.

Adam stayed quiet, but reaching over, he gave Lizzie's knee a squeeze.

"Yes, sir. I'd like to apologize to Mrs. Phillips and Jimmy too," Lizzie said quietly.

Mr. Phillips stood silently for a long time before growling, "I'll go get them."

"One down, two to go," Hoss whispered and then he whistled in a low tone.

"And that was the easy one," Lizzie said in a nervous voice.

"You did fine, Lizzie. Stay respectful and don't react to what they may say," Adam said in an encouraging voice.

Lizzie nodded and pulling her Apache tear out, she wrapped her hand around it.

Mrs. Phillips came barreling out of the house followed by Jimmy and Mr. Phillips.

"So, you brought the brat to apologize did you?" She said shrilly, frowning and putting her hands on her hips.

"First, Mrs. Phillips, Lizzie is not a brat. She responded badly to you yesterday and decided _on her own_," he said with emphasis, "that she would like to apologize for her behavior. Hoss and I merely came along with her so that we can see her off to school afterward," Adam squeezed her knee as he spoke in a firm voice. Lizzie found reassurance in the touch and the tone of barely contained anger in his voice.

"Yes, Mrs. Phillips I wanted to apologize for speaking disrespectfully to you yesterday and to you also, Jimmy, for jumping on your feet," Lizzie held her head up and looked each of them in the eye. "I hope you'll forgive me."

"Humph," Mrs. Phillips said.

"Olive," Mr. Phillips said quietly.

"This, this…hellion…beat up our son, I hardly think an apology is near enough to make up for that," Mrs. Phillips said to Mr. Phillips, waving her finger at Lizzie.

"Ma," Jimmy said in embarrassment, "she's just a dumb girl. She didn't beat me up; she didn't even hurt me." Jimmy glared at Lizzie.

"It's all right honey. I know you were a big boy and she didn't hurt you. That girl could do with a trip or two out to the woodshed," Mrs. Phillips continued, placing her arms protectively around a blushing Jimmy.

"Mrs. Phillips, you'd best keep those opinions to yourself and accept the Cartwrights as you find them," Adam said tersely and leveled a steely gaze at her.

Mrs. Phillips visibly trembled before raising her chin defiantly and saying, "If you insist."

"I'm afraid I do," Adam said levelly. "Now, I believe we have accomplished what we came here for and since Lizzie has apologized, we'll wish you a good day," Adam touched the brim of his hat and Hoss turned the buggy towards the schoolhouse.

After they were well away from the barnyard, Adam said, "You did a fine job, Lizzie. I was proud of you for not losing your temper. I suggest you do your best to stay away from Jimmy Phillips, though."

"Yes, Papa, but I didn't get to tell them about not calling Sally a bastard," Lizzie said looking up intently at him.

"No, honey, I don't think that was in the cards today. People need to be ready to listen when you tell them things like that, and I would say based on their reaction to your apologies that they weren't quite ready to listen. Don't worry about it, you did fine and perhaps another opportunity will present itself" Adam draped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze as they pulled up near the school. "Now go have a good first day."

Lizzie hugged both Adam and Hoss and jumping down to the ground, she ran up to Paul Hamilton.

"Hi Paul, are you ready for school to start?" Lizzie asked as she ran up beside him.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Paul said with a smile.

"Hey, you're limping; did your hurt yourself?" Lizzie asked as she slowed her pace to match his.

"Nah," Paul said with a blush, "you saw what happened on Saturday. Can we not talk about it?"

"Sorry," Lizzie said with an answering blush. "It's just when I get in trouble with Papa that way, it's usually all better by the next day."

"Yeah, well be glad you don't have my father for a pa. I don't think he thinks the job is done unless I'm limping for a couple of days."

"I'm sorry, Paul," Lizzie said sympathetically.

"Yeah, like I said, can we not talk about it?" Paul asked quietly as they neared the school. "Come on, maybe we can get in on the game of tag."

"All right," Lizzie said running ahead of him.

They played tag until Mr. Hanson came outside and began ringing the bell. Everyone came inside and found a place to sit. Sections of the room were defined by grade, but Mr. Hanson let them sit with whomever they wanted within a grade as long as they could behave. Lizzie saw that Sally was already sitting in the same grade as hers, so she sat next to Paul and behind Sally. Reaching out, she gave Sally's braid a quick tug, waved and smiled when Sally turned around quickly. Jenny came running in just as Mr. Hanson was walking to the front and sat behind Lizzie since she was a bit older and in the next grade up.

"If everyone's found a seat," he said pointedly, as he turned to face the class, "we'll get started."

"Sorry, Mr. Hanson. I wanted to make summer last as long as possible," Jenny said with a smile.

"I can't blame you for that, Jenny, but I hope you'll be a bit more prompt from now on," he said with a wink.

"Yes, Sir," Jenny said smiling and settling back into her seat.

"All right, let's get started and share what happened over the summer, but first I'd like to introduce our newest students. Sally, Abby will you come up here, please?" The girls rose and stood on either side of him and placing a hand on each one's shoulders, he said,

"This is Abby Davis she's David's sister and she's starting the first grade today and this is Sally Fellows, her father is the new doctor in town and she'll be in the third grade. I expect all of you to make them welcome and include them in your activities at lunch and recess."

The class applauded and he indicated that they could return to their seats. Mr. Hanson began assigning tasks to each grade and the morning quickly passed. At lunch, Lizzie grabbed Sally's hand and led her out to the tree where Jenny had staked out a log to sit on.

"We always eat lunch here," Lizzie said, digging into her lunch pail. "You can eat with us anytime you want."

"Thanks, Lizzie," Sally said, reaching into her pail for a sandwich.

Just as they began eating, Jimmy Phillips and a couple of his friends came up.

"I see you're still spending time with the bastard."

"You leave us alone, Jimmy Phillips," Lizzie said vehemently, "I beat you up once and I can do it again."

"You didn't beat me up!" Jimmy protested.

"That's not how I remember it," Jenny said smiling and taking a bite from her sandwich. "I seem to remember you lying on the ground calling for your mama."

"You take that back, or I swear…"

"You swear what, Jimmy?" Lizzie asked with a matching smile. "Are you going to try to beat up a couple of girls? Go ahead. I'm sure Mr. Hanson would like to see that, right Mr. Hanson?"

Jimmy wheeled around to see Mr. Hanson standing behind him with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. He looked around quickly and saw that his two friends had fled and left him to face their angry teacher alone.

"Mr. Hanson…" Jimmy started.

"Mr. Phillips, I don't want to hear it," Mr. Hanson said holding up a hand to silence him. "I would strongly suggest that you find other pursuits to occupy your time at lunch rather than trying to stir up fights. If you find yourself incapable of that, I promise I will find something to keep you occupied. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Sir," Jimmy said quickly running to the other side of the schoolyard.

"Ladies," he said after Jimmy was out of earshot, "I expect you three to conduct yourselves properly. I expect there will be no need to beat up the poor boy again, will there?"

"No, Mr. Hanson," the three girls chorused.

"Glad to hear it," he said nodding with the slightest grin as he turned and walked back to the schoolhouse.

"Thanks," Sally said shyly, "do you think he'll be back?"

"You're our friend now, right Sally?" Jenny asked. "That's what friends do for each other, besides, Jimmy Phillips is a bully but he's also a coward. There's no way he'll try anything now that Mr. Hanson knows what he's doing."

"Thanks for yesterday too, Lizzie, I've never had a friend do that before. I'm sorry you got punished for standing up for me," Sally said earnestly.

"Ah, I didn't get punished for that, Sally. Papa was glad I stood up to Jimmy Phillips, he just didn't think I should have jumped on his feet like I did," she rolled his eyes and took a bite of her sandwich. "I guess I'm not really sorry I did though, since he's scared of us now. Did you see how he brought two of his friends with him?" She giggled.

"Yes," Jenny giggled, "he didn't dare take on a Cartwright by himself. It's just as well he's scared of us, cause, Pa'd tan me sure if I got into a fistfight with him now, especially since Mr. Hanson's warned us."

"Yeah, my Papa'd spank me too if I got into a fight with Mr. Phillips," Lizzie giggled. "Did you see how red he got when he realized Mr. Hanson was standing behind him?"

The three girls laughed and finished their lunches before joining in a game of Uncle John.

* * *

><p>At the end of the day, Lizzie, Jenny and Sally came down the steps to find Hoss and Ruth deep in conversation.<p>

"Hi, Uncle Hoss," Lizzie said running up to them.

"Well, hi there, how was your day?"

"Not too boring," Lizzie said, rolling her eyes and smiling. "Hi, Mrs. Fellows."

"Lizzie," Ruth said, nodding her head and smiling.

"Well, I guess that's good enough for the first day. How about you Sally, did you like school?" Hoss asked as Sally came up to join them.

"It's different from San Francisco, but I like Mr. Hanson," Sally said, as Ruth put her arm around her shoulder.

"Yeah, I expect it is, but it always helps to like the teacher. Hey, Lizzie, I brought Blaze, so I thought we could have a riding lesson on our way home. You want to?"

"Yes!" Lizzie said, excitedly. "See you tomorrow, Sally. Bye Mrs. Fellows."

"Bye, Lizzie. Bye Hoss," Ruth and Sally said as they walked away.

Hoss raised his hand and waved as they left, before turning to Lizzie.

"Now you remember," Hoss said as he helped her mount, "I'm gonna point out all the things you're doing wrong so that you'll be a better rider. Hear?"

"Yes, Uncle Hoss, I know," Lizzie said.

"I just don't want you gettin' your feelings hurt," Hoss said looking seriously at her.

"I won't. I promise."

"Good, then let's head home," Hoss said as he mounted his own horse.

They walked and cantered and even tried a few short gallops until they arrived back at The Ponderosa.

"Look at how well you're riding, Lizzie. You have really improved," Adam called from the porch as he watched them ride in. "You're sitting so much more confidently and Blaze seems to respond really well to your rein commands."

"Thanks! We even tried galloping!" Lizzie said excitedly as she slid down from Blaze's back. "I'm going to put him in his stall and brush him."

"Good girl," Adam praised, "then I want to hear all about your first day back."

Lizzie skipped off, leading Blaze behind her.

"Galloping?" Adam asked raising an eyebrow.

"She was ready, Adam. I think everything's finally sinking in with her."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, Hoss, but take it easy, huh? I don't know how much my heart can take."

"She's born to it, Adam, you're just going to have let her do what she can," Hoss said, pushing his hat back.

"I intend to Hoss, I don't want to hold her back, but I don't want her to get hurt either," Adam said seriously.

"No worries there big brother, I've got my eye on her."

"Thanks, Hoss," Adam said as he made his way back to the porch to sit next to his father.

"She's not a little girl anymore," Ben said softly.

"No, Pa, and I don't want to be overprotective, I just need to remind myself that she's old enough to be galloping and that everybody is going to watch out for her," Adam sighed as he put his foot up on knee and looked out over the yard.

"You'll get through it, son, I did…three times," Ben said, slapping Adam on the shoulder.

Adam grimaced, but didn't say anything until Lizzie came running across the yard.

"So, tell me what you learned today, Lizzie," Adam said, pulling her up next to him on the settee.

"Nothing, Papa," Lizzie said ducking her head.

"Nothing, not…one….thing?"

"Nope, maybe I've learned everything and I should stop going to school," she said, trying hard not to smile.

"Well, maybe," Adam said seriously, "or maybe you've just learned everything you can in Virginia City. What do you think, Pa," Adam said, turning towards his father with a wink, "do you think maybe we should think about a college back east?"

"Well, Adam, this has day has come much sooner than I thought it would, but that is the next step once a child has learned all they can at a local school," Ben said thoughtfully.

"Yes, I guess we'll need to have Lizzie take the admissions tests at Vassar and Oberlin. What do you think about that Lizzie, would you like to move to New York or perhaps Ohio would be better?"

Lizzie looked at him with a bit of panic until she saw him wink at her.

"Or do you think maybe we should give the Virginia City school a few more days to see if maybe they might teach you a few more things?"

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said with a giggle, "I'm sure I can learn a few more things from Mr. Hanson."

"Well, your grandpa and I are ready to send you off to college when you think you're ready," he said as he kissed the top of her head.

"Do I have to go to college? Uncle Joe and Uncle Hoss didn't go," Lizzie said with a frown.

"I went to college, Lizzie and I think you'd like it. So, yes, I think you should plan on going to college. When you finish you can always come back here if you think this is where you want to settle, just like I did."

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said sadly.

"It's a long way off, Lizzie," Ben said. "I think as you get older the idea of traveling and going away to school will be more appealing."

"Yes, Grandpa," Lizzie said even more sadly. "Can I go play now?"

"Yes, honey, go play," Adam said patting her shoulder.

Ben and Adam watched her run off and Ben chuckled. "She may be galloping, but she's still eight."

Adam laughed and said, "I think I'm all right with that for a little bit longer."

"Yes, son, enjoy it while you can, they grow up so fast and she'll be off to Vassar or Oberlin in the blink of an eye."

"I intend to, Pa, I definitely intend to enjoy every moment with her," Adam said with a smile.


	57. Caught Cheating

"Thanks, Uncle Joe," Lizzie said as they rode up to the schoolhouse the next day.

"You're welcome, Lizzie," Joe said as he took the reins from her hands, "your riding's really improving."

Lizzie smiled at the compliment and ran off to join Paul who was leaning against the schoolhouse.

"Hi, Paul, I brought you something," Lizzie said pulling a small tin of cream from her pocket. "Hop Sing made it for me when I fell from the wagon this summer. I thought it might make you feel better." She put it into his hands and turned to go find Jenny.

"Wait, Lizzie," Paul said breathlessly, standing up from the wall. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure," Lizzie said, stopping, and turning back towards him.

"I didn't get to study last night. There's that math test today and I was wondering if I get stuck, if you can help me?"

Lizzie looked at him in shock, before she said, "No, we can't cheat, besides, Mr. Hanson said that it was just to see how much we remembered from last year. It won't count for anything," she crossed her arms and studied his face. "Why didn't you study if you thought you should?"

"I didn't have time. I had too many chores and my pa expects me to do well in school, but he also expects me to finish all my chores. I didn't have time to do both," Paul said desperately.

"You pa won't even hear about this test," Lizzie said nervously.

"He'll know, Lizzie, I tell you, he'll know and he'll take his belt to me for not doing well."

"But if we get caught, my papa will spank me and your pa will spank you," Lizzie said in a whisper. "Mr. Hanson will probably punish us too."

"Then we won't get caught. Lizzie, please you have to help me! I don't want another tanning so soon after the last one."

"Your pa'd really take his belt to you over a test that doesn't count?" Lizzie asked sympathetically.

"Yes," Paul said nodding emphatically. "You have to help me!"

"All right," Lizzie said, wringing her hands, "but if we get caught…"

"I'll take all the blame," Paul said reassuringly, "and you've got to promise not to tell, not about anything…not the cheating or the tanning. Promise?"

Lizzie nodded. "I promise," she said, but as she crossed her arms over her chest protectively; she figured that her papa wouldn't let Paul take all the blame if they were caught, and that worried her.

Shortly before lunch, Mr. Hanson began to hand out the math exam.

"Remember," he said, "this is just to see how much you remember from last year. It will help me know where to start, so just do your best and don't worry about getting everything right."

Lizzie started in on the first question and found that she remembered how to do a lot of the problems. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Paul struggling and then she saw his eyes flick towards her paper. She moved closer to him and glanced up to see if Mr. Hanson was paying attention to the class. When she saw that he was working on paperwork, she slid her paper over towards Paul and kept working, trying to keep her hand out of the way so he could see what she was doing. The guilt ate at her over the course of the next fifteen minutes and when Lizzie looked up to see Mr. Hanson watching her and Paul intently her stomach dropped and she blushed before sliding her paper back over and working on it again in earnest. Ten minutes later, Mr. Hanson began to circulate through the classroom, picking up the exams.

"I'll want to see the two of you after school," Mr. Hanson said quietly as he collected their papers.

"All right, lunch everybody," Mr. Hanson said a bit louder to the rest of the class, giving them both a hard look.

Lizzie gave Paul a sick look before heading to the back of the classroom to get her lunch pail and join Jenny and Sally at the tree. Neither of them had seen what happened and when they couldn't get Lizzie to talk to them as they ate, they eventually finished their lunches and went to play, leaving her alone. Lizzie sat and picked her meal to pieces, hardly eating any of it. They returned to the classroom when Mr. Hanson rang the bell, and after she walked past Mr. Hanson with downcast eyes, she looked around for Paul as she entered the classroom and grew worried when she didn't see him.

"Lizzie, do you know where Paul went?" Mr. Hanson asked her as he walked past Paul's empty spot.

"No, Sir," Lizzie said quietly.

He nodded and walking to the front of the room, began the afternoon's lessons. Lizzie was miserable the whole afternoon and had a hard time concentrating and it was almost a relief when Mr. Hanson dismissed the class. She quietly remained in her seat as the children filed out of the classroom.

"Aren't you coming, Lizzie?" Jenny asked, leaning over her desk.

Lizzie shook her head.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Jenny said when she looked up at a serious Mr. Hanson. "See ya, Mr. Hanson," Jenny said as she turned to leave.

"See you tomorrow, Jenny," Mr. Hanson said with a smile.

Mr. Hanson came out from behind the desk and stepping down off the platform, he leaned against the desk in front of Lizzie, crossing his arms across his chest and looking at her bowed head.

"I'm glad you were brave enough to stay after school and talk to me. Do you have any idea what happened to Paul?" He asked in a calm voice.

"No, Sir," Lizzie said twisting her hands in her lap.

"You know why I asked you to stay after class?"

"Yes, Sir."

"What I don't understand is why you and Paul felt you needed to cheat on a test that has absolutely no bearing on your marks or anything really. I told you that it was just to see what you remembered," Mr. Hanson said.

When Lizzie kept her eyes on her hands, he said, "All right, we'll discuss it when whoever is coming to pick you up arrives." He turned and walked back to his desk.

Lizzie found herself wishing over and over, please let it be Uncle Joe, please let it be Uncle Joe. She thought her prayers were answered when her Uncle Joe came into the schoolroom, and the nausea in her stomach lifted the slightest bit, until it crashed back down on her twice as hard when on her Uncle Joe's heels came her grandpa.

"Is everything all right, Mr. Hanson?" Ben asked.

"I'm afraid not, Mr. Cartwright, I caught Lizzie cheating on a test. Well, not actually cheating," he amended, "but helping Paul Hamilton to cheat."

"Lizzie, is this true?" Ben asked her firmly.

Lizzie nodded, but never took her eyes from her folded hands.

"But, why? That's not like you at all, Lizzie," Ben said walking to her and putting his hand on her head. Joe slid into the seat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders.

Ben glanced up at Mr. Hanson who was shaking his head, "I asked her the same thing and she wouldn't answer me either. What I am having trouble understanding is why they felt the need to cheat when the exam was just to determine what they remembered from last year."

"Lizzie, what do you have to say for yourself?" Ben said sternly.

Lizzie took in a hitched breath, but didn't look up or answer.

"Pa, Mr. Hanson, I'd like to have a moment alone with Lizzie, if it's all right with you," Joe said standing and taking Lizzie's hand.

Ben motioned in an annoyed manner with his hand and Joe gave Lizzie a sympathetic look before leading her out the side door, taking a seat on the steps, and pulling her down beside him.

"Now, it's just us," he said sympathetically, "what's happened?"

Lizzie looked up at him with a tear rolling down her cheek and said, "I can't tell, Uncle Joe. I promised."

"Are you sure you can't tell me? I promise I won't tell your grandpa or your teacher, but maybe if I knew what was going on, I could help. I got into plenty of trouble when I was in school, you know."

"I can't" Lizzie said and the tears started falling more freely.

"Lizzie there are some promises you make with every intention of keeping and then things happen and you need to break those promises, there's no shame in that," Joe looked at her, willing her to tell him the truth and when she kept silent, he said, "All right, honey, you have to do what you think is right, but when we go back inside I suspect Mr. Hanson will punish you for cheating and when your pa hears about this, he'll punish you too."

"I know…" Lizzie said softly, with her chin to her chest. She stood up when Joe stood and allowed herself to be led back into the classroom.

Mr. Hanson and Ben looked up at Joe, who was shaking his head.

"Lizzie, I'm going to give you one last chance to tell us what happened," Mr. Hanson said, "you are a good girl and you have a good conscience. I know you know what you did was wrong and I know you think you had a good reason. Are you protecting Paul?" Mr. Hanson asked, raising an eyebrow. Lizzie glanced up at him quickly before returning her eyes for the floor. Ben and Mr. Hanson exchanged a glance realizing that protecting Paul was precisely the reason why Lizzie had done what she did and why she was remaining mute now.

Mr. Hanson sighed and said, "Well, since you refuse to tell us why you cheated, you give me no choice but to punish you. Since you can't be trusted to sit next to Paul, you'll be up here at this desk by yourself" he motioned to a desk that was set off to the side of the rows. "by tomorrow, I'll expect 100 lines that say, I will not cheat in class nor will I help others to do so. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Lizzie said sadly.

"Now, since you don't know where Paul is, I guess I'll have to ride out to his house and let his parents know about his misbehavior," Mr. Hanson said sternly.

"No!" Lizzie cried, raising her head quickly to look at him.

"Lizzie, Paul is just as guilty if not more guilty than you are. You allowed him to cheat, but he did the cheating."

"Please Mr. Hanson, you can't go out to his house, please…"

Mr. Hanson walked over to Lizzie and taking her hand he led her back to the platform on which his desk rested. Taking a seat, he took both her hands in his, he pulled her close to him and said softly, "Lizzie, it is not like you or Paul to cheat, so I know that you had what you thought was a good reason to do it. Paul disappeared at lunch and I think that was for a reason other than that he was caught cheating on a test. Now, I think your grandpa and your uncle would agree that whatever trouble Paul is in, we want to help him, but we can't do that unless you tell us what's going on."

Lizzie looked at him a long time, silently trying to decide the right thing to do. Lizzie felt her grandpa crouch down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder and when she looked at him she didn't see the anger that she expected but kindness in his eyes.

"He's right, Lizzie, we want to help, but you have to tell us the truth."

"But I promised and I don't want to get Paul into more trouble," she said, near tears again.

"Lizzie, promises are very important things to keep, but there are going to be times when keeping the promise puts someone into more trouble than telling. This is one of those times, one way or the other we are going to find out what you're hiding, so you need to tell us…now," Ben said kindly, but firmly, nodding his head in an encouraging way.

Lizzie took a deep breath and said, "Paul said his pa would tan him if he didn't do well on the exam and he was already so bruised, I told him he could copy off me…" Lizzie said looking for understanding in her grandfather's eyes.

"He has bruises from when his pa tanned him?" Ben asked, searching her face.

"Yes, Grandpa, his pa tanned him at the pond on Saturday and I brought the cream that Hop Sing made to put on the bruises and Paul said that his pa didn't think it was a real tanning unless he was limping. He was scared if he didn't do good on the test and his pa found out, he get tanned again and…" Lizzie said in a worried voice.

"That was three days ago," Mr. Hanson whispered.

"All right," Ben said, standing up, "I'm going to take you to stay with the Masons and then Mr. Hanson, Uncle Joe and I are going to go looking for Paul, to make sure he's all right. You did the right thing, Lizzie, telling us the truth."

"Are you going to tell Mr. Hamilton what happened?"

"Maybe, Lizzie, but I promise you, Paul will not be getting a tanning for this, at least not tonight. I promise."

Relief spread over Lizzie's face as Ben took her hand and led her out of the schoolroom, followed by Joe and Mr. Hanson. As they passed the doctor's office, Dr. Fellows stepped out and called, "Mr. Cartwright, may I have a moment of your time?"

"I'm afraid I don't have the time right now, doctor, can it wait?"

"No, sir, I'm afraid it can't"

"All right, Joe, if you'll take Lizzie to the Masons, I'll just be a moment."

"I think you should come as well, Mr. Hanson," Dr. Fellows said as he held the door open for the men to pass inside.

"I found Paul Hamilton hiding in my clinic this afternoon when I came in from seeing patients. His back and legs are covered in bruises and he said that they were from a tanning that his father gave him for neglecting his chores. Apparently this happened on Saturday. I was tanned many a time growing up, but my pa never left me with bruises. He said his pa was going to tan him again for cheating in your class, Mr. Hanson, I don't know his father, but I would say in this particular punishment, his father crossed the line. I wouldn't feel right sending him back to face his father if it's going to mean more of the same. Do you know Mr. Hamilton, Ben? Is this typical of him?"

"No, it's not typical. I've never known him to be so severe with his son. I guess I should ride out there and see if I can't get some answers. Will Paul be all right with you here until I can get back for him? If I can't get this resolved today, I'll want to take Paul back to the Ponderosa."

"Yes, he'll be fine here with me. I gave him a sedative to help him sleep; he said he had lain awake last night worrying and I thought the rest would do him good, in addition to letting me have a good look at his back. The boy's been beaten and it's going to take some time for him to heal." Dr. Fellows said as he pulled back the shirt on the sleeping boy's back, revealing rows of angry wheals.

Mr. Hanson whistled low as he looked at Paul's back.

Ben's face grew angry and he turned quickly to walk back outside, followed by Mr. Hanson and the doctor.

"I can't believe that happened at the hands of Dan Hamilton," Ben shook his head. "There has to be some reason for this."

"Paul said he had it coming for neglecting his chores," John said.

"That's what eight year old boys do…neglect their chores, but that is hardly an appropriate punishment," Ben said angrily and jabbing his finger at the clinic. "Dan Hamilton's a strict father, but that is over the line and well out of character for him."

"I agree that it's over the line, Ben, that's why I wanted you to know about it and you too, Mr. Hanson. I'm glad to hear this is out of character for Paul's father, but we need to keep an eye on Paul and be sure it doesn't happen again," John said nodding his head.

"Joe, we've found Paul," Ben said as he watched Joe come down the boardwalk. "Lizzie was right about the bruises. Apparently, he came to the clinic to hide after he and Lizzie got caught cheating and Dr. Fellows found him. He's safe there for the time being, but I expect we will be taking him to the Ponderosa for the near future. We need to let Mr. Hamilton know where his son is and see if we can't find some resolution to this."

"Yes, sir," Joe said and followed his father and Mr. Hamilton to the horses.

"David, you can ride Lizzie's horse, Blaze, is that all right?"

"Yes, Mr. Cartwright, thank you."

The Hamilton farm was not far out of town and they arrived within fifteen minutes. As they rode into the yard, Mr. Hamilton walked towards them carrying a shovel.

"What's the boy done?" He asked, seeing the teacher with them. "I figured he was up to no good when he didn't come home after school and now seeing you here, I figure I was right."

"Well, we _have_ come about your boy, Paul," Ben said, dismounting and looking at Dan Hamilton from under his hat. "It seems he earned himself a tanning from you and he's still sporting the evidence of that and we were just wondering if you think you might have taken that tanning too far…"

"Are you telling me how to raise my boy?"

"No, Dan, I am not, however, I know boys can be exasperating, having raised three of them myself," Ben laughed softly, trying to ease the tension, "I can recall more than a few times, when I had to get a hold of my anger before I picked up my belt to avoid giving them more than they had coming. There were times when I was sore pressed to do that and I thought maybe this time, you didn't quite have a hold of your anger before you lit into Paul."

"What exactly are you saying, Cartwright?"

"I'm saying the boy's got bruises, put there by you and I'm saying that what Paul received at your hands was a beating not a tanning," Ben said quietly, but firmly, and stood his ground.

The silence hung in the air as the two men glared at each other.

"That being said," Ben continued, "I've known you a lot of years, Dan. I know you're a hard man and you are tough on your son, but I've never known you to be severe, so I think there's got to more to this and as I look around your farm I see that perhaps there is."

"I don't appreciate you coming out here, interfering where you're not wanted."

"I'm pretty sure I would feel the same way you do, Dan, if the roles were reversed, but there was a time in my life where I was exactly where you are. I had three sons and we were barely scraping by, I had to accept help and I didn't like it one bit."

"Thank you for understanding," Dan said sarcastically, "and you can just leave now."

"Well, I can't do that until I've made my offer," Ben said smiling, "I've got two ranch hands I'm going to send out here tomorrow to help take the pressure off of you."

"I don't take charity," Dan glowered.

"Well, this isn't charity and this isn't for you, it's for Paul. I think he needs the pa that could correct him without raising bruises back. The hands I'm sending are good at seeing the jobs that need to be done and doing them. I think once you have a better control on things here, you'll be better able to see a boy who doesn't do his chores in the proper light and respond in a more measured way."

"And if I don't accept your kind offer?" Dan snarled.

"Then, you'll be forcing me to take some action that I'd just as soon not take."

"Please, Dan," the men turned to see Mrs. Hamilton coming down the steps from their cabin, "you and Paul were always so close and I think you can be again, once your worries are less. I know that you are doing your best to provide for us, but we can't go down this path anymore. You know you're too hard on Paul, heaping too much responsibility on him, you've told me so. Please accept Mr. Cartwright's offer." She reached over and looped her arm around his.

"I don't accept charity, Rose," Dan said in a softer voice.

"Mr. Cartwright, we don't accept charity, what will you accept in payment?" Rose asked, raising her chin and meeting his eyes.

"Well, I'll ask for two bales of hay when you harvest it and one of your rhubarb and strawberry pies," Ben said seriously.

"Dan?" Rose asked quietly.

Dan glared at his wife for a few long seconds before his face softened and he reached out to stroke her cheek. "I can't fight all of you," Dan said with a slight grin, never taking his eyes off her face. "Done," he said, shifting his gaze to Ben and holding out his hand, which Ben shook enthusiastically with a grin.

"Done," Rose said, holding out her hand as well. Ben smiled and took her hand and grasped it quickly and gently.

"That doesn't explain the presence of the teacher," Dan said, putting his hands on his hips and nodding towards Mr. Hanson.

"Actually, what happened in school is what precipitated us coming here," Mr. Hanson began, "your son, Paul, is quite the scholar and he likes to do well in his studies, but he was concerned about a test I gave in class today. It was just to let me know what the children remembered from last year, but according to Lizzie he feared if he didn't do well on the test, you would be tanning him again. He apparently sought to avoid that by convincing Lizzie to allow him to copy from her test, and when he got caught, he hid in the doctor's office and that was when the occurrences of the last three days came to light."

"So, in trying to avoid a tanning for doing poorly, he earned himself a tanning for cheating," Dan growled folding his arms across his chest. When Rose once again looped her arm through his, he relaxed his stance, allowing his arms to drop to his sides and patting her hand with his.

"You are his father and as such, you will have to deal with it appropriately," Mr. Hanson said, "but in this case, I am hoping that appropriately won't involve a tanning, perhaps you can let me deal with it at school and call it done with?"

When Rose squeezed his arm, he gave a single curt nod.

"Thank you," Mr. Hanson said gratefully.

"Good," Ben said jovially, "I was hoping that perhaps Paul could stay out at the Ponderosa for a few days while you get things sorted out here? Not having an eight year old under foot might make things go a bit easier?"

"You have this all planned out, don't you Cartwright?" Dan said sternly, but without much conviction.

"That's Pa," Joe said with a grin, "always the planner."

"Thank you, Ben," Rose said, smiling at her husband, "we would appreciate the time to get things sorted out."

"Dan?" Ben asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Very well, but I want that boy back here on Saturday," Dan said pointing his finger at Ben, "he and I have some talking to do about what I expect from him…and what he should expect from me in the future."

"I hope that talking will just be talking…"Ben said, raising an eyebrow in inquiry.

"Just talking," Dan said, holding up his hands in surrender, "I think I'm still capable of conveying my thoughts to the boy without taking my belt to him."

"Then it's settled, Paul will stay with us for the rest of the week and he'll be back home, bright and early on Saturday."

The three men mounted their horses and as they rode away, Ben looked back to see Dan and Rose walking slowly back to the house with their arms around each other.


	58. Listening to your conscience

As they rode back into to town, Ben sent Joe to get Lizzie from the Mason's and after hitching his horse to the post, he walked into the doctors office.

"He hasn't woken up, but he's been stirring a bit, so I expect you can wake him. Will you be taking him with you to the Ponderosa?" John asked.

"Yes, for a few days. I think that the workload of running a farm got the best of Dan. I'll be sending a couple of hands out to help him catch up and Dan and Rose agreed to let me keep Paul for a couple of days while that happens. It will give me a chance to talk to the boy and make sure that it's safe for him to be home."

John nodded, "I sure do hope that you're right about the cause of those bruises, Ben. I can't imagine a father doing that to his son for any reason."

"While I don't condone it," Ben said shaking his head, "I do understand it. Pressure can make a man do a lot of things that he normally wouldn't. That's why I'm sending the hands out to the Hamilton farm. I'm hoping that will relieve enough pressure that Dan will start treating Paul the way he should."

Ben walked over to the sleeping boy and gently laid a hand on his shoulder, "Paul, time to wake up, son."

Paul groggily began to come to and then realized with a start where he was.

"I've gotta get home. Pa'll have my hide," he cried jumping off the examination table. What time is it? I've gotta get home," he said in a panicked voice.

"Whoa, it's all right," Ben said, in a placating voice. "Your parents know that you'll be coming home with me to the Ponderosa for a few days. I spoke to them this afternoon…"

"No, I gotta get home, Pa needs me to help with the chores. He can't get them done by himself," Paul said, quickly pulling on his boots.

"It's all right, Paul. I know how important your help is to your folks, so I'm sending two hands to help your pa tomorrow: help him get caught up," Ben said, trying to calm the boy down. "The doctor says that you need a little bit of time before you'll be ready to help out your pa again."

"No! I'm fine to help him now," Paul said furiously.

"Paul, your ma and pa want you at the Ponderosa with us until Saturday," Ben said firmly, standing back and crossing his arms. "Are you going to obey them or not?"

Paul stared at Ben for a moment, before he asked, "Do they really want me to come to the Ponderosa?"

"Yes, when I saw them this afternoon, they told me that they wanted you to concentrate on your school work and they would struggle along without you until you were ready to come back on Saturday."

Paul ducked his head and asked in an embarrassed voice, "Do they know I cheated?"

Ben sighed.

"Yes, Paul they do, and they understand what happened," Ben reassured them.

"Pa's gonna kill me," Paul whispered, wide eyed.

"No, he's not, Paul. He reckons he's been a mite too hard on you of late and he said he intends to change that. While he wasn't happy to hear about you cheating, he said he only intends to give you a stern talking to about it. I believe his exact word were 'I can convey my displeasure to the boy without taking my belt to him," Ben said with a slight grin. "Pas don't always have to give you a tanning to make you regret something you've done, at least my pa didn't. He could make me feel pretty contrite with just a few words. How about your pa? Has he got that talent?"

"Yes, sir, he sure does," Paul said with a small smile, "before he got so worried about the farm, he was more likely to do that than tan me," and his smile faded.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," Ben said with a small laugh. "So the type of tanning you got on Saturday used to not happen very often."

"Oh, no sir," Paul said in an embarrassed voice, "just recently he gets worried and when I don't do as I'm told…" Paul paused. "He's just trying to teach me to be responsible and I've deserved every tanning he's given me." He continued bravely.

"Paul, I think your father would agree, you may have deserved the tanning, but you didn't deserve the bruises," Ben said firmly.

"This is the first time," Paul said quickly, staring at his boots.

"That's not what your ma and pa implied," Ben said softly, coming over to sit next to Paul and putting a hand on his shoulder. "How many times, Paul?"

Paul stared at his hands, clasping and unclasping them, before he finally whispered, "three."

"When did it start?" Ben pressed.

"Pa got hurt back at the beginning of spring, he couldn't do as much as he was used to and I didn't help like I should have. It was my fault; I deserved it."

"No, Paul," Ben said softly, "you did not deserve it. You are still a child and while you should obey your father and pay attention to your chores, you do not deserve to be punished like that… for anything. I expect that your father is going to tell you the same thing."

Paul looked up at Ben as a tear slowly rolled down his cheek.

"Are you sure?" He asked in a hitched voice.

"I'm positive. I'm a pa, remember? Pas know things like that," Ben squeezed his shoulder and standing, he said, "All right, we are going to head back to the Ponderosa and we'll get you settled in and on Saturday we'll take you home. Dr. Fellows," Ben said, turning to John and giving Paul a chance to collect himself, "we thank you and we'll have to have you, Ruth and Sally out to the house real soon."

"We'd enjoy that Mr. Cartwright" John said, reaching out the shake Ben's hand. "Bye, Paul, I'm glad we met," John reached out lay a hand on Paul's shoulder "Come by anytime, for any reason. All right?"

"Yes, sir, I will," Paul said. He gave a small wave and followed Ben out to the where the horses were hitched.

"I'll hold you to that," John called after them, closing the door behind them; turning to lean against it, he blew out a big breath.

"Hey, Lizzie," Paul said as Ben put him up on Buck.

"Hey, Paul," Lizzie said as Joe helped her up onto Blaze's back. "Are you coming back to the Ponderosa with us?"

"Yes, but just until Saturday, my folks wanted me to," Paul said as Ben eased himself into the saddle behind Paul.

"Good," Lizzie said as she turned to follow her grandfather out of town.

When they got back to the Ponderosa, Ben and Lizzie showed Paul to his room, while Joe took care of the horses.

"You're welcome to use anything you find in here, Paul. There are clothes that should fit you in the drawers of the bureau," Ben said showing him around. "You can stay up here in your room or you can come downstairs with us, whatever you'd prefer."

"Is it all right if I stay up here, Mr. Cartwright?" Paul asked timidly.

"Of course, I'll come get you for dinner, but remember you don't have to stay up here unless you want to all right?"

"Yes, sir," Paul said turning to look out the window.

"Maybe we can play Chinese Checkers after dinner…"Lizzie said.

"Maybe," Paul said, not turning.

"Come on honey," Ben put a hand on Lizzie's shoulder and steered her out of the room.

As they came down the stairs, Ben dropped his hand from her shoulder and she continued out onto the front porch. Ben watched her for a moment, before he followed her and took a seat on the porch swing, draping his arm over the back behind her.

"Grandpa, do you think I'm going to be in trouble with Papa?" Lizzie asked after some long moments of silence.

"Well, Lizzie," he said, dropping his arm to her shoulder, "cheating is pretty serious."

"Grandpa, if you were Papa, would you punish me?" She asked looking up at him.

"I'm not going to answer that, honey. Your papa is the one who has to decide that, not me," Ben said, patting her shoulder.

"I know," she sighed. "It's just hard waiting."

"I don't think you're going to have to wait much longer to find out. Here he comes now," Ben said, inclining his head in the direction of Adam who was just coming into the yard.

"Well, you're back late from town, did something happen?" Adam asked walking up the stairs to lean in on the railing in front of them and crossing his arms across his chest and his legs at the ankles.

"Yes, Adam, something happened at school, that Lizzie needs to tell you," Ben said, looking at Lizzie's bowed head. "Start from the beginning, honey, so your papa will understand what happened."

"Lizzie?" Adam asked when Lizzie didn't start right away.

Lizzie looked up at him and took a deep breath before she began.

"When I got to school this morning, Paul was worried about the math test that we had to take. He said that if he did bad on it, his pa would tan him and Papa, he was still sore from Saturday," Lizzie said in a rush, looking up at him quickly.

"I see," Adam said in a deep voice.

Lizzie took another breath and returning her eyes to the folded hands in her lap, she continued.

"And he asked if he could copy off my test if he needed help…and I said yes…" Lizzie said glancing up at him and then looking back down at her hands.

"And got caught," Adam finished.

"Yes, Sir," Lizzie answered.

Adam nodded.

"But, Papa, his papa was going to tan him again. He had bruises," she cried.

Adam frowned, "Bruises?" He looked at his father.

"Unfortunately, yes, bruises. We brought Paul home to spend a few days with us." Ben said as he stood, "Now, I'm going to let you two finish this discussion without me."

"Thanks, Pa," Adam said, watching him walk into the house.

Adam looked at Lizzie through narrow eyes for a long time before he took a seat next to her and draped his arm over her shoulders.

"You have a heart as big as all outdoors, don't you?" Adam said quietly, kissing the top of her head. "I hope you never lose that."

Lizzie looked up at him, trying to determine what he was thinking.

"You also have a brain and a conscience. Did you listen to either of them when you made the decision to cheat?"

Lizzie's eyes returned to her hands.

"Lizzie, did you think about what might happen if you got caught?"

"Yes…"

"And what, exactly, did you think?" Adam asked seriously.

"That you and Mr. Hanson would probably punish me."

"And how did you think I would punish you?"

"Spanking," Lizzie whispered.

Adam nodded, but kept silent.

"Are you going to spank me?" Lizzie finally asked.

"So, if you thought I would spank you, you knew what you were doing was pretty serious. Do you think you deserve it?"

Lizzie nodded slowly.

"We'll get back to that in a moment," Adam said. "What about your conscience? What was it saying?"

"I told Paul we shouldn't cheat. I had butterflies in my stomach about it," Lizzie said.

You should have listened," Adam said softly. "Next time I expect you to listen to those butterflies and take a moment to think about why you're feeling them. Your heart was right to urge you to do something, but your mind and your conscience should be given the time to figure out a way to help without the butterflies. If you're doing the right thing, your conscience won't bother you."

"But, Papa, I had to…" Lizzie said in a pleading voice.

"You didn't have to, you chose to and there's a difference."

"Did Mr. Hanson punish you?" Adam asked seriously.

Lizzie nodded.

"How?"

"I have to write 100 times that I won't cheat in class nor help others to do so," Lizzie said, never looking up.

"Anything else?"

"He said I can't sit next to Paul anymore," Lizzie said sadly.

"Why not?"

"Because he said he can't trust us to sit together anymore," Lizzie said quietly in an embarrassed voice.

"That is the real consequence of not listening to your conscience, Lizzie. By letting Paul cheat off your test, you made Mr. Hanson think you can't be trusted. Trust can be easily given, Lizzie, but once you betray someone's trust, it can be really hard to get it back." Adam said. "Lizzie, you need to start thinking about things before you act on what your heart is telling you to do."

"But, Papa, what else could I do?"

"How do you know when you're doing something wrong?"

"I feel butterflies in my stomach," Lizzie said.

"And those butterflies are sent by your conscience to tell you that what you're planning is wrong, Lizzie. In the last few weeks you've led with your heart and done a couple of things that you shouldn't; haven't you?" Adam asked, cupping her cheek and lifting her head so he could meet her eyes.

Lizzie nodded.

"Sitting on Sally to keep her from going into the Bannister house and jumping on Jimmy Phillips' feet to stop him from being a bully. Did your conscience bother you either of those times?"

"No," Lizzie said looking at him with questioning eyes.

"No, because those were things that happened in the spur of the moment and you just reacted to something. In this case, you had time to think about it and you had time to think about it until you took the test and let Paul cheat from you. When did you take the test?"

"Right before lunch," Lizzie said, looking back down at her hands.

"So, for several hours your conscience was telling you this was wrong, wasn't it? Those butterflies didn't go away, did they?"

"No, they got worse," Lizzie admitted.

"Because you knew you shouldn't be doing what you planned and your conscience wasn't going to let you forget that, but you ignored it and then what happened?"

"We got caught," Lizzie said.

"Lizzie, why did you ignore what your conscience was telling you?"

"Because I didn't want Paul to get into trouble," Lizzie answered.

"Trouble how?"

"I didn't want him to get another tanning," Lizzie whined.

"Lizzie, the way I see it, either way he was going to get tanned. If he did poorly on the test, he was going to get tanned and if he got caught cheating he was going to get tanned, and getting caught also probably meant you would be spanked. Did you think about that?"

"But, Papa, if we didn't get caught neither one of us would have been punished."

"Not by your fathers at least," Adam said firmly.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you remember when I told you that there are always consequences for misbehavior? Did you think about the other consequences?"

"What other consequences?"

"Lizzie, your conscience would never have let you get away with this. You would have felt guilty even if you had managed to get away with it. But there's something else I want you to consider, what finally happened?"

"We got caught," she said looking up at him.

"Right, you cheated and you got caught. Did Paul get tanned?"

"No…"

"Why not?"

"Because Dr. Fellows kept him in his office and Grandpa, Uncle Joe and Mr. Hanson went out and talked to his pa and then they brought him here."

"So, all the adults that found out about Paul and the bruises, protected him, didn't they?"

"Yes," Lizzie said slowly.

"So, what kept Paul from being tanned? Cheating on the test or adults finding out about the problem?"

"Adults," Lizzie said, swallowing hard.

"So, do you think there were more choices than just choosing to cheat, Lizzie? You could have avoided a lot of this mess by simply telling Mr. Hanson about things," Adam said sadly.

"But Paul made me promise…"

"Why did you make that promise, Lizzie? Can you honestly say in your heart of hearts, that if you had thought about it, you couldn't have convinced Paul to tell Mr. Hanson about what his pa would do if he did poorly? You know Mr. Hanson, he wouldn't have wanted Paul to get tanned anymore than you did." Adam said, sitting back and crossing his arms over his chest.

Lizzie looked out at the yard and her eyes lost focus as she thought about what he had said.

"Now, what should you have done differently?" He asked sternly.

"I should have asked Mr. Hanson to help," Lizzie said.

"Exactly, the same way you should have asked me or Mr. Brown to help when Sally wanted to go up to the Barrister house and the same way you should have asked for help when Jimmy Phillips was being a bully. Do you understand, Lizzie?"

Lizzie nodded, and then hung her head.

"You need to learn to stop and think a minute before you act on what your heart is telling you to do and listen to your conscience. Those butterflies are there for a reason and your brain is there to help you figure out the right thing to do," Adam finished.

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said quietly.

"You're not to ride Blaze to school for the rest of the week," Adam said firmly. "If you ignore your conscience again, I'll take him away for longer."

"But, Papa," Lizzie cried, jumping up and pulling the Apache tear out of her shirt.

"Do you think I'm being unfair?" Adam asked in a firm voice.

"No," Lizzie finally conceded, but she stomped her feet.

"Then tell me why," Adam said softly, pulling her into his lap and wrapping his arms around her. She stayed stiff for a minute before allowing herself to relax against his chest.

"Because I knew that cheating was wrong and I did it anyway and because Mr. Hanson would have helped if he knew what was going on. He helped with Jimmy Phillips. Did I tell you, Papa?"

"No, honey you didn't" Adam said, smiling and kissing the side of her head.

"He saw that Jimmy was coming after me and Sally on the playground and he came over and stopped him."

"So you already knew that Mr. Hanson could be trusted to help with problems, didn't you?"

Lizzie nodded.

"Then why didn't you trust him to handle this?"

"I just didn't want Paul to get spanked by his pa again," Lizzie said.

"I know, honey, and wanting to protect your friend was exactly the right thing. Your heart was in the right place, but your methods left a lot to be desired. You need to learn to look for help when the only solution to a problem that you can come up with bothers your conscience. I'm hoping that not being allowed to ride Blaze will remind you to look for help from the adults around you when that happens. Do you hear me?"

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie sighed.

"All right, I think you have some lines to write," Adam said putting her on her feet.

"Yes, Sir," Lizzie said. "And Papa, I'm sorry I didn't listen to my conscience and that I didn't ask for help. Do you think Mr. Hanson will forgive me?"

"I do," Adam said. "We'll ride into town tomorrow so that you and Paul can make your apologies and start earning his trust back. Now go on and get busy so we can go out firefly catching after dinner."

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said, running into the house.

Adam remained on the porch swing, slowly rocking back and forth as he thought about what had just happened.

"You all right, son?" Ben asked coming out to stand on the porch.

"Yes, Pa," Adam said.

"Did you punish her?"

"I took away Blaze for the rest of the week."

Ben gave out a low whistle.

"Too harsh?" Adam asked, looking quickly at his father.

"No, I don't think so," Ben said slowly, "Lizzie needs to learn to be less impetuous. Her heart's in the right place, but she needs to think before she acts."

"That's what I told her," Adam said, turning back to look out over the yard.

"Come inside, son, no need to stay out here and brood. Lizzie didn't look too stricken when she asked me for some paper to start her lines."

Adam rose and followed his father into the house. They were closing the door behind them when Paul came down the stairs.

"Glad you decided to join us," Ben said heartily as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yes, sir," Paul said walking over to where Lizzie was working at Ben's desk.

"Whatcha doin' Lizzie?" He asked.

"Writing lines," Lizzie said, never looking up.

"Cause of what happened today?" Paul asked guiltily.

"Yes, Mr. Hanson wants me to write a hundred times that I won't cheat in class or help others to cheat either," Lizzie sighed.

Paul looked up at Ben when Ben came up behind him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Do you think you ought to join her, Paul?" Ben asked, holding out a pencil.

"Yes, sir," Paul said, nodding his head and taking the pencil.

"Good man," Ben said patting his shoulder and dragging a chair around for him to sit at the desk across from Lizzie. Paul looked at the chair, but remained standing as he leaned on the desk, taking the paper that Lizzie pushed towards him.

"Lizzie, show Paul what he's supposed to write, he's of the mind that since you both cheated you both should accept the same punishment. Right, Paul?" Ben asked.

"Yes, Mr. Cartwright," Paul said nodding as he began to write on the paper that Lizzie had pushed over to him. Ben reached out to squeeze his shoulder before he turned to take his chair near the fire.


	59. Setting Things to Rights

As they finished dinner, Adam stood and said, "Clear the table, Lizzie and we'll go firefly hunting. Do you want to come, Paul?"

"Yes, Sir," Paul said with a smile.

"Good! I'll go find the jars," Adam said with a nod.

Paul stood and began to help Lizzie pick up the plates.

"You're a guest Paul, you don't have to do that," Lizzie said,

"I might not have to, but I want to, if I help it'll be done sooner," Paul said earnestly.

"All right," Lizzie said with a smile.

When the plates were cleared off the table, Adam ushered the children out the door and gave them each a jar. "I think we should try the field near the pond, what do you think, Lizzie?"

"We saw them there the other night, Papa. I'll bet they're still there," Lizzie said running ahead. Paul glanced back at Adam and when he saw a nod, he ran to catch up to Lizzie.

Lizzie got to the field first and began to run the jar along the grass and scooping the fireflies into her jar.

"Lizzie does your papa know what happened in school today?" Paul asked when he caught up with her.

"Yes," Lizzie said nodding, "why?"

"Cause he doesn't seem mad," Paul said, glancing at Adam.

"He doesn't stay mad after we talk," Lizzie said, catching another firefly and putting it into her jar, slamming the lid on quickly to keep the others from escaping.

"Is that why we got to come catch fireflies?"

"What do you mean?" Lizzie asked.

"I mean…nothing," he said quickly. "Did you get punished?"

"Yes," Lizzie said sadly, "I can't ride Blaze for the rest of the week."

"I'm sorry, Lizzie, it's my fault, I shouldn't have asked you to help me cheat," Paul said, crouching down to pull up his socks.

"I know," she said nodding, "but I shouldn't have said yes. Come on there's more over here." Lizzie said as she ran towards the pond.

They ran and chased the insects until they were both exhausted and flopped down next to Adam with brimming jars.

"Did you catch them all?" Adam asked with a smile.

"Almost," Lizzie laughed, "see?"

"I do see, you both are going to have great night lights in your rooms tonight. We'll need to remember to set them free tomorrow night," Adam said with a smile as he reached out to stroke her hair. "We should probably head back, it's bedtime for both of you."

"Race you back," Lizzie said jumping to her feet. Paul hugged the jar to his chest and took off after her.

When they arrived at the house, they raced inside.

"Did you two have fun?" Ben asked with a grin.

"Yes, Grandpa, see what we caught?" Lizzie held up her jar. Paul came close on her heels and held up his jar too.

Adam came in the door, closing it behind him; he leaned against it and smiled as he watched Lizzie and Paul showing Ben their collection.

"Bedtime," he finally said, waiting at the foot of the stairs as Lizzie and Paul ran up them. Ben stood and followed the three of them up stairs.

"There are nightshirts in the bureau," Ben said following Paul into his room and walking over to pull open a drawer. "Do you need help?"

"No, Sir," Paul answered, taking the nightshirt from Ben's hands.

"Then I'll be back in a few minutes to say good night," Ben said with a smile and closed the door behind him.

* * *

><p>Lizzie came out from behind the screen to find Adam seated in the rocking chair.<p>

"Want to rock some tonight?" He asked holding out his hand.

Lizzie nodded and came over to climb into his lap.

They rocked in silence for a long while, before Lizzie asked, "Papa, why do you think Mr. Hamilton spanks Paul so hard?"

"Lizzie, I honestly don't think that Mr. Hamilton meant to be that harsh with Paul. I think he made a mistake," Adam said softly.

"How can he make a mistake and hurt Paul?"

"Well, Lizzie, that's a pretty hard question to answer. I've been talking to you a lot about your temper and I think maybe it was like that for Mr. Hamilton. He let his anger get the best of him when he was punishing Paul; he went too far and hurt him. That can happen sometimes, just like when you got angry and shouted at me, or I got angry with you for being outside because I didn't see your Uncle Joe. We both felt bad about that and we're both going to try our best not to do it again, right?"

"Yes, but hurting Paul like that is way worse than what we did, Papa."

"I suppose it is, Lizzie, but Paul loves his pa and I know his pa loves him and I think they're going to work it out so it doesn't ever happen again."

Lizzie nodded and they rocked in silence for a while longer.

"Papa?"

"Hmmmm?"

"Do you think Blaze is going to miss being ridden?"

"I expect he will, Lizzie, unfortunately, he is going to have to be unhappy for a while because of you being naughty. That's something to remember: when you do something wrong sometimes innocent people and animals get hurt."

"Is it all right if I still spend time with him and brush him?"

"Of course, honey, just no riding," Adam said gently.

Lizzie nodded and was soon fast asleep in his arms.

* * *

><p>"You ready for bed young fella?" Ben asked as he came back into Paul's room.<p>

"Yes, Sir, Mr. Cartwright," Paul said from the bed.

"Now my bedroom's right down the hall on the left, so you come get me if you need anything. Matter of fact if you knock on anyone's door they'll get you what you need, all right?"

"Yes, Sir, thank you," Paul said.

"Paul," Ben said, pulling out the desk chair and sitting next to the bed, "I wanted to have a word with you about what happened at school today."

Paul lowered his eyes and didn't answer.

"Everybody makes mistakes in life and nobody is immune, not me, not Lizzie, not Mr. Hanson and not even your pa. The most important thing to do is face up to those mistakes, accept your punishment and do your best not to repeat them."

"Yes, Sir, " Paul said quietly.

"You writing lines today was a good start. Tomorrow you and Lizzie will see Mr. Hanson before school and hopefully put this to rest. Your ma and pa wanted you to come here to the Ponderosa for a few days so that you could concentrate on setting things right without worrying about what needs to be done on the farm. Do you understand that?" Ben asked, putting his hand on Paul's leg. "Your pa has two hands to help him get things taken care of and I know your parents will both be glad to see you on Saturday."

"Yes, sir," Paul said.

"Have you given any thought to what happened today?"

"Yes, sir, I know I shouldn't have cheated and I shouldn't have run away after I did. My pa always says a man doesn't run, especially when he is in the wrong. But I just couldn't stay, Mr. Cartwright!" Paul looked up at Ben with pleading eyes. "And then I got Lizzie into trouble and I left her to face Mr. Hanson. I feel really bad about that."

"Well, if the way Lizzie treated you tonight is any indication, I don't think she holds that against you. I think she was mostly worried about the bruises on your back."

"I told her sorry when we were catching fireflies."

"I don't think you need to worry about Lizzie. She's the forgiving sort," Ben said reassuringly.

"I'll apologize to Mr. Hanson tomorrow when I give him my lines and I hope he'll forgive me," Paul said, returning his eyes to his hands.

"I think Mr. Hanson is the forgiving sort too," Ben said.

"Yes, sir."

"I hope you're also the forgiving sort," Ben said gently.

"Oh, yes sir, I know my pa didn't mean to do what he did," Paul said, "He won't do it again."

"I expect you're right, but I meant you forgiving yourself, Paul. You're going to make plenty of mistakes in your life and you need to learn to forgive yourself. Going over and over it in your mind and feeling bad about it doesn't serve any purpose. You need to apologize and decide you aren't ever going to cheat again and leave this day in the past."

"Yes, sir," Paul said nodding.

"All right, roll over and I'll put some of this salve on your back. It'll help you heal faster," Ben said holding up the jar.

"Thank you, Mr. Cartwright, but you don't need to," Paul said blushing.

"Of course I do, there's no way you can reach where you need to, so over," Ben said firmly, motioning with his hand.

Paul turned over slowly and allowed Ben to raise his nightshirt and spread the cream on the healing bruises.

When he had finished, he stood and said, "Remember what I said, you need anything, you come find one of us and we'll help you out." Ben blew out the lamp and moved out of the room closing the door behind him.

"Yes, Sir," Paul said as he pulled to covers up to his chin. He looked at the fireflies in the jar and he thought about Lizzie and what had happened that day and he began to feel more and more guilty. Then he started to think about what Mr. Cartwright had said about apologizing and he got out of bed to go find Adam. Paul came slowly down the stairs and stood on the landing.

"Paul," Ben said, looking up, "is something wrong? Can I get you something?"

"No, Mr. Cartwright, I was wondering if I could talk to Mr. Cartwright, I mean Lizzie's papa," Paul said blushing.

"Of course, Paul," Adam said, looking up from his book and over his shoulder, "what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if we could talk privately, Mr. Cartwright?"

"Certainly, is the porch private enough?" Adam asked inclining his head toward the door.

"Yes, Sir, thank you," Paul said, following Adam out the door.

"What can I do for you?" Adam asked genially, taking a seat in the porch swing and wrapping his arms over the back.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened at school today," Paul said nervously and pulling at his nightshirt.

Adam nodded and waited silently for Paul to continue.

"I'm the one that asked Lizzie to help me cheat," Paul finally said in a rush as he stared at his feet.

"I know, she told me," Adam said nodding.

"She did?" Paul asked, looking up quickly.

"Yes, Paul, she said you were worried that you wouldn't do well on the math test and you were concerned your pa wouldn't be pleased.

Yes, Sir, but if she told you it was my fault, did you have to take away her horse?"

"Paul, she didn't say it was your fault, she said you asked her to help you cheat and she said yes. She's old enough to say no when someone asks her to do something wrong," Adam said quietly.

"But she was just trying to help me," Paul pleaded. "Do you have to punish her? I told her I would take the blame, I should be punished instead." He turned quickly to look out over the yard, trying to keep his tears at bay.

"Paul," Adam said gently, standing and putting an arm around his shoulders, "there's plenty of blame to go around. I'm glad Lizzie wanted to help you and I told her so."

"You did?" Paul asked looking up.

"Yes, I did. I expect her to help her friends when they need it. I also expect her to do the right thing, and in this case the right thing was to get Mr. Hanson to help out."

"But he would have thought I was just trying to weasel out of a test," Paul said, shaking his head.

"I highly doubt that," Adam said raising an eyebrow, "I hear tell you are a good student and good students rarely try to weasel out of tests."

Paul was quiet a long time before he said very quietly, "But do you have to take away her horse?"

"Yes, Paul, I'm afraid I do," Adam said, patting his shoulder, "I want Lizzie to think about listening to her conscience and doing the right thing. I appreciate you being willing to take responsibility for what happened today, though, that's what men do."

"I promised Lizzie I would," Paul said looking up at him.

"And you're a man of your word," Adam said with a small smile, he hesitated before he said, "Paul, did Lizzie complain to you about having her horse taken away?"

"Oh, no, Sir," Paul said vehemently.

"Why do you think that is?" Adam asked returning his gaze to the yard.

"Lizzie's not like that," Paul said.

"You're right, Lizzie's not like that. She takes responsibility for the wrong things she does and she does her best to accept punishment, same as you."

"Me?" Paul said looking up at him.

"You wrote lines, didn't you?"

"Yes, Sir."

"You're going to apologize to Mr. Hanson, aren't you?"

"Yes, Sir."

"You're ready to face your pa?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Sounds like taking responsibility to me," Adam said, nodding, "not to mention the fact that you are out here asking me to punish you instead of Lizzie. That takes courage, Paul. I'm glad you and Lizzie are friends."

"But I asked her to cheat," Paul said, guiltily.

"Yes, that was a pretty big mistake, but a mistake I don't expect you'll make again, will you?"

"No, Sir," Paul said earnestly.

"What if you find yourself in a situation where you are tempted to cheat again?" Adam asked, turning to lean against the railing, folding his arms over his chest and turning his head to look at Paul.

"I'm not gonna do it!"

"Why not?" Adam asked seriously.

"'Cause it's wrong and I hate that I got Lizzie in trouble with you," Paul said as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"You're right, it is wrong, but Lizzie got her own self in trouble, like I said, there's plenty of blame to go around. You've taken responsibility for your part in it, now you learn the lesson and stop feeling guilty. Think you can do that?"

"Yes, Sir," Paul said with a smile.

"Good, anything else you want to discuss?"

"No, Sir," Paul said.

"All right then, back to bed," Adam said pushing off the railing and placing a hand on Paul's neck, he guided him back into the house.

"Good night, Mr. Cartwright," Paul said to Adam with a smile. "Good night, Mr. Cartwright," Paul said to Ben before he ran up the stairs.

Ben raised an eyebrow at Adam

"He felt guilty over Lizzie getting punished for her part in this," Adam said, picking up his book and settling back into his chair. "I told him Lizzie needs to take responsibility too."

"You seem to have convinced him," Ben said with laugh.

"I hope so, he's a good boy, and he was in a tough spot today. I can't really blame either of them, I suppose I might have done the same thing when I was their age."

"And I would have punished you, the same way you punished Lizzie," Ben said seriously. "The habits of a lifetime start in childhood."

"I know, Pa," Adam said, nodding. "I understand it, even though I don't condone it."

Paul came back to his room and closing the door quietly, he pulled the blanket from the foot of the bed and climbed on to the window seat, he looked out at the silent yard and did his best to stay awake.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Ben came in to find Paul asleep in a tangle of wet blanket and nightshirt.<p>

"Paul," he called quietly, rubbing his shoulder.

"I fell asleep," Paul said, jumping to his feet, "I'm sorry, Mr. Cartwright. I didn't mean to." Paul ducked his head and blushed.

"It's all right, Paul," Ben said, sizing up the situation. "Don't worry about it. It's easily taken care of. You stay here a minute, I'll be right back,"

He crossed the hall and came back into the room carrying the rest of his shaving water, a soft cloth and a basket.

"You clean yourself up, put the wet things in the basket and get dressed," Ben said.

Paul took the cloth Ben held out to him and put the blanket in the basket. Ben left the room, going downstairs to get an oilskin and three clean sets of sheets. When he came back into the room, Paul was dressed and sitting on the window seat. When Ben came in the room, Paul stood and held out his belt.

"That belt belongs around your waist, son, I don't see much reason to punish a boy for something he doesn't have control over," Ben said looking him in the eye. "You ever change a set of sheets?"

""No, Sir," Paul said as he threaded the belt into his belt loops.

"Well, you're going to learn today. A man takes responsibility for the results of his action even with things that are out of his control. Now, pull that sheet out and take those pillows." Ben said as he unfolded the oilskin. "This is waterproof, so we'll put it on the bed and then put the sheets over it. If the same thing happens tonight, I'll just expect you to take the sheets off, put some new ones on and take the basket downstairs to Hop Sing. Do you think you can do that?" Ben asked as he spread the oilskin over the bed and showed Paul how to tuck in the corners. "I figure this isn't the first time this has happened, since you tried to stay awake on the window seat?"

"No, Sir," Paul said, blushing again as he pulled on the top sheet. "Except at my house, we sleep on straw mattresses, so Ma can wash the cover and I can restuff it. Here I was worried since you have cloth mattresses."

"That was very considerate of you, Paul. I know it's embarrassing for this to happen, but you'll grow out of it, I promise."

"That's what Ma and Pa say," Paul said nodding.

"They're right. Now that we've got things fixed, I want you to sleep in the bed and don't worry about what might happen. You can change the sheets if you need to and I've put clean sheets on the bureau if you need them. All right?"

"Yes, Sir," Paul said with relief.

"Good, pick up that basket and I'll show you were it goes."

Ben put his hand on Paul's shoulder and led him down to the laundry and showed him where to leave the basket, then they took their seats at the breakfast table and joined in the conversation that was already going on. After breakfast, Adam, Hoss, Lizzie and Paul loaded up in the wagon to head into town.

As they neared the schoolyard. Adam asked, "Have you got your lines and thought about your apology?"

"Yes, Sir," they chorused.

"Good," Adam said with a smile as they stopped in front of the schoolhouse.

Adam followed them up the steps and took a seat at the back of the room as Lizzie and Paul moved up to the front where Mr. Hanson was seated. Adam glanced up as Dan Hamilton came into the schoolroom. He was clutching his hat in his hand and was worrying the brim. Adam reached out a hand and they shook before turning their attention to what was happening in the front of the room

"Mr. Hanson?" Lizzie started. "I, I mean Paul and I wrote our lines. We wanted to come and give them to you and to say that we're sorry about yesterday."

Mr. Hanson stood and came down off the platform to stand in front of them.

"Thank you, Lizzie. I'm glad to see you back, Paul, and glad to see you wrote your lines too."

"It only seemed fair, Mr. Hanson, since I'm the one that convinced Lizzie to cheat."

"But I said yes," Lizzie said, turning to scold him.

"But you wouldn't be in trouble if I hadn't asked," Paul argued back.

"But…" Lizzie started before Mr. Hanson interrupted.

"Enough! You both did things you shouldn't have yesterday. What I want to know is did you do any thinking while you were writing? Are you going to do anything differently the next time?"

"There won't be a next time, Mr. Hanson. I'm not ever going to cheat again," Paul promised.

"And I won't help anyone cheat either," Lizzie said, nodding her head.

"Do I have you word on that?"

"Yes, sir," the both said together.

"Can I trust you to keep it?"

"Yes, Sir," they said again.

"I hope if something like this ever happens again, you'll tell me about it so that I can help, all right?"

"I promise, Mr. Hanson," Lizzie said.

"Me too," Paul echoed.

"All right, then we move on. Can I trust you two to sit next to each other?"

"Yes, Mr. Hanson," Lizzie promised with a huge smile.

"All right then, go play until the bell," he said, turning them towards the back of the room.

As Paul and Lizzie turned from Mr. Hanson, they stopped and stared at the back of the room when they saw Mr. Hamilton.

"Pa!" Paul said in surprise

"Paul," Dan said nodding, "I'm glad to see you're taking responsibility for your actions." He added gruffly.

"Yes, Sir," Paul said quietly.

"That's good, because I'm here to do the same thing. I've been too hard on you and I'm asking your forgiveness for that," he said, looking into Paul's eyes, but twisting his hat in his hands.

"No, Pa, you haven't been, truly," Paul reassured him, taking a step forward.

"Yes, Paul, I have been, because if you're feeling needful of cheating and are asking your friends to take part in that cheating," he motioned towards Lizzie with his head "because you're fearful of what I might do, I have been," Dan said sternly.

"I'm sorry I cheated, Pa…" Paul started.

"I'm glad to hear it and we'll be talking about that, Paul," Dan said, interrupting him with a wave of his hand, "but for now I'm telling you that you don't need fear a lickin' from me if you do your best. Your ma and I want you to be an educated man, so you don't have to be a dirt farmer, barely scrappin' by, like I am. There ain't nothin' wrong with bein' a farmer, if that's what you choose as your life's work, but we want you to have the choice."

"But, Pa, I want to be a farmer like you," Paul said.

"Then you'll be an educated one because from now on your school work's more important than the farm is, that's my job; yours is school work. You hear?" He demanded.

"Yes, Pa," Paul said and nodded, but continued in a pleading voice "but I like helping you."

"Well, I didn't say you'd be chore free," Dan said with a laugh, "sons are supposed to help their pas out and there's plenty of things that need to be done day in and day out that I can't get done by myself. What I am saying is that if you have pressing schoolwork, I expect you to tell me, sos we can be sure you give it the attention it deserves,"

"Yes, Sir," Paul said.

"I'm also telling you in front of these three here witnesses, that you won't be receiving any more bruises at my hands. I'll tan you when you need it, but it won't be more than you deserve."

"But, Pa, you haven't…" Paul started.

"We both know that ain't true, son," Dan said softly. "Hell, everybody in this room knows that ain't true, but I'm resolved not to let it happen again. I promise you and me's gonna have a long talk about cheating on Saturday when you come home. For now, you run outside and have some fun with your friends. I'm gonna have a few words with your teacher and then I'm gonna head back to the farm and make sure those hands I hired," he grinned over his shoulder at Adam, "from the Cartwrights earn their pay."

"Yes, Sir," Paul said.

As Paul walked past his father, Dan reached out to put his hand on Paul's head and Paul stopped, turned quickly and hugged him around the waist.

"Go on now, I got things to get to," Dan said gruffly, hugging him quickly and patting his back. "You enjoy your time at the Cartwrights, and you mind them."

"Yes, Sir," Paul said with a smile as he ran out the door and with a quick hug to Adam, Lizzie followed him outside.

"Has my son made satisfaction for cheating?" Dan asked as he walked to the front of the room followed by Adam.

"He has, Mr. Hamilton, I have a hundred lines from him that I didn't even tell him to write" Mr. Hanson, said in a reassuring voice. "I think that proves he's accepting responsibility."

"I want him to do well, but not at the cost of his honesty," Dan said. "If there's more you want from him, you just tell me and I'll see that it's done."

"No, Mr. Hamilton, I think it's best we close the books on this," Mr. Hanson said, "for both the children." He continued, glancing up at Adam. "I think they both learned an important lesson and I don't imagine I'll have much to worry about from either of them. They're both good, well behaved children and I think they just got caught up in something that they didn't know how to handle. Mistakes and bad decisions happen, it's a part of growing up."

"Thank you, Mr. Hanson," Dan said holding out his hand, which Mr. Hanson shook. With a nod to Adam, he turned and walked out the door.

"If you ever repeat this I'll deny it, David, but I'm sort of glad that Lizzie and Paul cheated. It brought some important things to light," Adam said with a slight grin.

"I would tend to agree with you, Adam," David said returning the grin. "I hope you weren't too hard on Lizzie."

"I took her horse away for a few days," Adam said, "but I think having Paul stay with us has softened that blow considerably." He continued with a small laugh.

"Well, I think this was a case of ex-ten-u-at-ing circumstances, as my mother used to say. I think you, Mr. Hamilton and I all went easier on those two than we would have if circumstances had been different."

"I just hope they learned to look for help when things get to be too much for them," Adam said, shaking his head, "that's the thing I tried the hardest to impress upon Lizzie."

"Time will tell, Adam, time will only tell," David said as he and Adam each turned to move into their day.


	60. Jimmy's Comeuppance

Lizzie and Paul clattered down the steps only to run into Jimmy Phillips.

"Did you take your paddling like good children?" He asked sarcastically and rolled his eyes, looking around for an audience.

"You shut up, Jimmy Phillips," Lizzie said angrily.

"Two cheaters and a bastard, what a group!" Jimmy taunted as Sally walked up.

"You'd better shut up," Lizzie said, reaching up to take a hold of her Apache tear.

"Make me!" He shouted, balling up his fists and taking a swing that Paul blocked.

"She won't have to make you, because I will!" Paul said, as he put his fists up.

Lizzie watched the two boys getting ready to fight, she took a deep breath and said, "I'll just go tell Mr. Hanson and we'll see if you can take a paddling."

"Tattletale!" Jimmy said uncertainly, as the other children began to gather to watch the fight play out.

Lizzie turned and ran into the schoolroom, "Mr. Hanson!" She called as she ran into the room and up to where her father and Mr. Hanson were still talking.

"Jimmy's trying to start another fight!"

Adam arched an eyebrow and said, "I'd best be on my way," with a smile and a nod to Lizzie, he walked out the side door.

Lizzie watched her father go and then turned worriedly to Mr. Hanson, who strode past her and headed out into the schoolyard. The two boys were still circling each other. Grabbing them each by the collar, he held them apart.

"What's going on?" He demanded.

"Jimmy started it," Jenny Mason said, stepping forward when she saw their teacher. "He was taunting Paul and Lizzie for getting into trouble with you. Jimmy also threw the first punch at Lizzie. Paul just defended her."

"He called Sally a bastard too!" Lizzie chimed in.

"It's true Mr. Hanson, " Greg Ross added. "Jimmy was being a bully and Paul was only sticking up for Lizzie."

"Yeah," the rest of the children began to say, nodding.

"He was saying mean things about the paddling you gave Paul and Lizzie," Sally added.

"Well, Mr. Phillips? What do you have to say for yourself?" Mr. Hanson demanded, pulling the boy up a little higher.

"They're all lying. They just hate me," he pouted.

"Mr. Hamilton? Do you have anything to add?" Tightening his grip on Paul's collar.

"No, Sir, he just looked like he was going to fight with Lizzie and I didn't want her to get hurt. Jimmy…Mr. Phillips did throw the first punch and I had to stop him from hitting Lizzie. I know how you feel about fighting. I was only going to protect her. I'm sorry if you thought I should have walked away, but I couldn't let him hurt anybody," Paul said, lowering his fists.

"All right, I want everybody inside with your readers. Sit quietly and read until I return," he ordered as he let go of Paul, but kept a firm grip on Jimmy. He watched the children run up the stairs and sighed.

"You too, Mr. Hamilton," Mr. Hanson added when Paul didn't move. "And close the door behind you!"

"Yes, Sir," Paul said as he quickly ran up the stairs, pulling the door shut with a bang behind him.

Mr. Hanson looked down at Jimmy and sighed.

"You need to stop your bullying ways, Jimmy," he scolded quietly, letting go of his collar.

"They're all lying about what happened!" Jimmy protested as he looked at Mr. Hanson with wide eyes.

"Why? What possible reason could an entire classroom of children have for lying?" Mr. Hanson demanded.

"They hate me!" Jimmy said a little softer.

"Again I will ask you why, Mr. Phillips? Why do they hate you?" Mr. Hanson asked sternly.

"Because we're wealthier than anybody else and my pa has...has…a better position in the town." Jimmy stated uncertainly.

"And who in the blue blazes told you that?" He asked wearily.

"My ma," Jimmy said, nodding his head once.

"Well, I, for one, will not try to dispute that, but I will remind you that the Cartwrights and the Masons also have wealth and important positions in this community and Lizzie and Jenny do not seem to draw the same sort of dislike that you do. No, I think that the reasons for the dislike can be put firmly on your shoulders, Jimmy. I will repeat, you need to stop your bullying ways," Mr. Hanson said with a frown.

With those words, Mr. Hanson put his hand on Jimmy's neck and marched him behind the schoolhouse. He stopped at a willow tree and taking a knife from his pocket, he cut a switch.

"You can't Mr. Hanson," Jimmy said in a scared voice. "My ma and pa would never allow it."

"Your parents are well aware of the methods to which I sometimes have to resort to teach a child. I am your teacher, Jimmy, and in addition to teaching you math and reading and history and many other academic subjects, I am also charged with teaching you to be a civilized man. Regardless of how angry or mistreated a man may feel, he must never resort to striking the first blow, especially against a woman," he lectured grimly as he stripped the switch. "You, Mr. Phillips, need a lesson in civility and in accepting responsibility for your actions. I think a switching will be a good place to start."

With those words, Jimmy fell apart. The tears were pouring down his face as he begged and pleaded, and hiccuped, and promised, and cajoled and bargained.

"Turn around and put your hands on the sawhorse, Mr. Phillips," Mr. Hanson said firmly, gesturing with the switch to a sawhorse that was up against the back of the building, the pleading having no effect on him whatsoever.

"I'll tell my parents. You'll get in trouble!" He sobbed out.

"On the sawhorse, Mr. Phillips," Mr. Hanson repeated. "I hope you _will_ tell your parents what happened and why. I will not tolerate you taunting the other children in the class and then blaming it on them. In addition, there will be no fistfights. You are going to learn to get along with people and not be a bully," Mr. Hanson said as he walked over to where Jimmy stood.

"Mr. Hanson, no, please, I promise I won't bully anyone anymore," Jimmy begged as Mr. Hanson put his hand on Jimmy's neck and guided him over to the sawhorse.

"Put your hands on the sawhorse, Jimmy," Mr. Hanson said quietly, but firmly. "You and I both know you have had this coming for a long time." He squeezed his neck and said encouragingly, "Do as I ask."

"Go on now," he encouraged, putting a little pressure on the back of his neck, as a sobbing Jimmy slowly reached out for the sawhorse.

Mr. Hanson laid his left hand on Jimmy's back and with no further lecturing, laid down the first stripe. Jimmy tried to dance away, but with Mr. Hanson's hand holding him in place, there was no where to move that was out of range of the willow switch, even as he squealed and squirmed and screeched. Ten stripes in, Jimmy stopped pleading and was just crying, two stripes later Mr. Hanson stopped. Mr. Hanson left his hand on Jimmy's back and leaned the switch against the back of the building.

"All right, son, it's over," Mr. Hanson said, waiting patiently for the crying to stop.

Jimmy finally stood up, and grasping his bottom, he danced in place for a while and gradually he settled down and the crying stopped.

"Now, Jimmy," Mr. Hanson said, putting a hand on his shoulders and looking him in the eyes. "If you take this lesson to heart and do your best not to bully your classmates, or get into fist fights, then we won't need to revisit this, but if you don't, then you and I will be taking as many trips back here as necessary for you to learn this lesson."

Mr. Hanson pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Jimmy, "All right, let's go back to the schoolroom."

Jimmy took the handkerchief and backed away shaking his head, wiping his face and blowing his nose.

"Jimmy," Mr. Hanson said, leaning against the sawhorse and pulling Jimmy into his side, putting an arm around his shoulders, "I know this is embarrassing for you, but you're going to have a little bit of sympathy on your side."

"What do you mean sympathy?"

"Mr. Hanson, the big, mean teacher took you out behind the schoolhouse and gave you a switching?" He winked at him. "I think if you apologize for how you've acted in the past and really mean it, then you'll find the children pretty forgiving."

"But they don't like me," Jimmy whined.

"No, you're right, they don't, and they'll probably think you deserve what you got, but…"

Jimmy jerked his head at that and tried to get out from under Mr. Hanson's arm.

"But," Mr. Hanson said, tightening his grip, "despite thinking you got what you deserved, they have been in your place, getting punished at one time or another, and they aren't vindictive…none of them. If you apologize and start acting nicer to all of them, then I think it won't be too long before you'll have a lot more friends. You just need to convince them that you've changed and you do that by proving you aren't going to be a bully anymore."

"Do you think so?" Jimmy asked timidly, looking up at him then glancing away.

"Are you going to try to stop bullying the other children?" Mr. Hanson asked seriously.

Jimmy nodded.

"Why? Because you got switched? Or because you want them to be your friends?"

Jimmy considered that for a long time.

"But I don't like them," Jimmy finally said.

"None of them? You don't like any of the children in the class?" Mr. Hanson asked firmly.

"Well...most of the girls are just stupid," he whined.

"What about the boys?" Mr. Hanson sighed.

"I tried to be friends with Paul, but he ignored me," Jimmy said, looking at the ground.

"Well, I don't think you are going to make much head way with Paul by taking a swing at Lizzie, If you want to be friends with Paul, you've got to stop picking on the girls. Just ignore them. Then you can try again to be Paul's friend," Mr. Hanson said patting his arm.

"How, though? After what happened today?" Jimmy asked.

"You start with apologies and then you show that you've changed your ways. You don't pick on anybody anymore and you ignore the girls if you don't like them."

"Do you think that will work?" Jimmy asked hopefully.

"I'm sure of it. Let's go," he said standing and walking Jimmy back around to the front of the schoolhouse.

They walked up the steps together and Mr. Hanson was relieved to find a quiet classroom with all of the children reading. He patted Jimmy's back, urging him to take his seat as all the eyes in the classroom turned to look at them.

"All right children, I'm very proud of you all for reading quietly like I asked you to, who wants to tell the class about what you've read?" He leaned against his desk and engaged the children in a lively discussion about literature.

When Mr. Hanson released the children for lunch, Jimmy stayed behind in his seat.

"You're going to have to face them sometime," Mr. Hanson said, taking the seat in front of Jimmy and hooking his arm around the back of the seat. "Do you want me to go with you?"

"Would you?" He asked plaintively.

"Of course, let's start with the girls, they always sit under the same tree away from everybody, I think that'll be a good place to start. All right?" He asked and stood, holding out his arm.

Jimmy nodded. Mr. Hanson put his arm around his shoulder and walked with him out to where Lizzie, Jenny and Sally were having lunch under their tree.

The girls looked up as they approached and Jimmy stood there in awkward silence for a few moments before Mr. Hanson patted his shoulder and said, "Ladies, Mr. Phillips would like to saw a few things to you. Right, Mr. Phillips?"

Jimmy nodded and said lamely, "I wanted to say sorry…"

"Sorry for what?" Lizzie asked taking a bite of her sandwich.

Jimmy started to turn away, but Mr. Hanson stopped him. "It's a fair question, Mr. Phillips, tell her why you're sorry."

"For trying to hit you, and for calling Sally a bastard…" he said kicking at the ground.

"And?" Mr. Hanson prompted.

Jimmy looked sadly up at Mr. Hanson.

"Jimmy, you need to call a spade a spade," he said and raised an eyebrow.

"And for being a bully," he said in a rush.

"Tell them, Jimmy," Mr. Hanson said, reaching out to turn him back around by the shoulders.

"Sorry for being a bully," he repeated, never taking his eyes off the ground.

Lizzie and Jenny both hesitated as they both heard their parents' voices in their heads talking about second chances and forgiveness. Their mutual dislike of Jimmy Phillips warred with the words they had heard their whole lives. Sally, on the other hand, had no such compunction.

"How do I know you're really sorry? You keep calling me a bastard and John said that's a bad word!" She exclaimed.

"Well, Sally, it's a risk you have to take…" Mr. Hanson started.

"Yeah, well, maybe he's only saying it because you spanked him and now you're here watching him," Sally said pointedly.

"I forgive you," Lizzie said suddenly, standing up. "I believe you're really sorry and not just 'cause of the spanking."

"You do?" Jimmy asked incredulously.

"Me too, Jimmy, all those times you did mean things to me, I forgive you for them," Jenny said earnestly, jumping to her feet beside Lizzie.

"You do?" Sally said staring at them in disbelief. "Well, I don't. I don't like him." She said with a huff as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"You don't have to like him to forgive him, Sally," Jenny said and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, Sally, you gotta give people a second chance until they prove they don't deserve it. Maybe he's an ugly duckling," Lizzie said, trying to explain.

"What's that mean?"

"You know, like you used to be. You used to be pretty mean and now you're different, you aren't an ugly duckling anymore," Lizzie said, turning to her.

"I never was an ugly duckling," Sally said angrily.

"You were too, but now you're a swan," Lizzie said hurriedly, trying to calm her down.

"Whoa, ladies," Mr. Hanson started, but Sally had already run off.

"I didn't mean to hurt her feelings. Isn't it good to be a swan?" Lizzie asked and wrinkled her brow.

"Yes, Lizzie, it is, but I don't think Sally heard that part. I think she just heard ugly duckling, and nobody wants to be called that. Maybe you can try to explain to her when she's had a chance to calm down, all right?" Mr. Hanson said, watching Sally run away.

"Oh," Lizzie said and then looked at Jimmy. "Sorry if I hurt your feelings, Jimmy."

Jimmy shrugged, looking at the ground.

"Jimmy, I think you should thank the ladies for their forgiveness and we'll go track down Paul. "

"Thanks," Jimmy said blushing and not meeting their eyes.

"You're welcome, Jimmy," Lizzie said, sitting down and picking up her sandwich again.

"Yeah, Jimmy, you're welcome," Jenny said, taking a seat next to Lizzie.

Mr. Hanson, put his hand on Jimmy's shoulder and winking at the girls he led Jimmy away to find Paul.

"Do you think he means it?" Jenny asked, taking a bite of sandwich, and watching them walk away.

"I hope so, I'd rather he not be a bully. I don't think it was just because he was paddled, do you?" Lizzie said, digging into her lunch pail for her cookie.

"I don't think Mr. Hanson paddled him," Jenny said squinting her eyes. "He keeps the paddle in his desk. I think Jimmy got a switching."

"A switching? I've heard that hurts a lot," Lizzie said with wide eyes.

"My pa said he was switched once. He said it really got his attention," Jenny giggled.

"It's mean to laugh, Jenny," Lizzie said.

"I wasn't laughing at Jimmy, I was laughing at what my pa said," Jenny laughed again and then turned serious. "I'm not sorry Jimmy got the switching, he deserved it, and I sure hope it works. I'll bet Mr. Hanson will do it again if Jimmy doesn't stop. I hate it when I get in trouble for the same thing more than once though," she paused, turning things over in her mind, then she added, "I hope it works because it would be nice not to be bullied by him ever again."

"Yeah," Lizzie said as she and Jenny both turned to watch Jimmy talking to Paul.

"What do you think about Sally? Do you think I said something mean?" Lizzie asked worriedly.

"Nah, she's just being Sally," Jenny laughed.

Lizzie nodded and took another bite of her sandwich, before taking another worried glance over at Sally and hoping Jenny was right.


	61. Choices

At the end of the day, Lizzie tried to talk to Sally, but Sally pushed past her and ran out the door. When she finally made it out of the schoolroom, Sally was already walking away with her mother. Lizzie sadly watched her and was trying to decide what to do when Hoss said, "Load up."

Lizzie sighed and turned slowly to climb up in the front seat with Paul and Hoss started the horses off at a brisk walk.

"So, I was up in the north pasture today and I saw THE biggest vulture you could ever hope to see," Hoss said laughing. "I think he could carry off a baby calf if he had a mind to."

Lizzie allowed herself to be distracted as Hoss kept them laughing and talking about vultures until they arrived at home.

"How was your day?" Adam asked as Paul and Lizzie came up on the front porch.

"Fine," Lizzie said, meeting his eyes briefly and then looking quickly away as what had happened at school came rushing back.

Adam frowned at Lizzie's reaction to his question and thinking she might be worried about his reaction to the fight, he took her hand.

"I was proud of both of you for the way you handled yourselves this morning, both with the apologies and you coming to get help, Lizzie. You both did really well, but, Paul, you need to tell Mr. Cartwright about what happened at school today," he said raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, Sir, I was planning to," Paul said, holding his head up. "I didn't do anything wrong. I was just trying to keep Jimmy from hurting Lizzie."

"I appreciate you protecting Lizzie, Paul, and I'm glad you know that Mr. Cartwright needs to hear about a fight at school," he reiterated with a small smile.

"Yes, Sir," Paul said.

"So, what exactly happened?" Adam asked, sitting back.

"Well, Jimmy was giving us a hard time about getting paddled. He just thought we did 'cause of the cheating," Lizzie said and blushed.

"And he was coming after Sally too and calling her a bastard," Paul chimed in. "And then he tried to punch Lizzie, so I stopped him."

"And then I ran in to tell Mr. Hanson, you know that part Papa, and then Mr. Hanson stopped the fight and sent all of us into the classroom while he and Jimmy had a chat," Lizzie said quietly.

"A chat, huh?" Adam asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Jenny thinks Jimmy got a switching," Lizzie said. "She said her papa said it really hurts. Did you ever get a switching, Papa?"

Adam whistled low and said, "Can't say that I did. Your Grandpa's belt was enough to set me on the straight and narrow and I never got in trouble in school. I've heard tell a switching does hurt though. Did it have any effect on Jimmy?"

"He apologized to me for trying to start a fight," Paul said. "I couldn't believe it!"

"What did you say to that?" Adam asked.

"I told him that he'd better stay away from the girls and that I could forgive him if he showed he really meant it," Paul said earnestly.

"And people can change, can't they? We've seen it, haven't we Lizzie?" Adam said squeezing her hand.

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said quietly, not meeting his eyes.

Adam frowned at her answer and deciding something must be up with Lizzie, he turned a smile on Paul and said, "Paul, I think Hoss is out in the barn. Why don't you go out and see what he's up to, Lizzie will join you in a minute."

"Yes, Sir," Paul said, looking puzzled at Lizzie and Adam before he ran off to the barn.

"Is there something you need to tell me, Lizzie?" Adam asked lowering his voice, peering in her eyes, and taking her other hand in his.

Lizzie nodded.

"Well, climb aboard," he said drawing her into his lap.

Lizzie sat quietly for several minutes picking at the button on his shirt.

"Lizzie," Adam finally said, "I'm going to need to get ready to go into town soon. If you can't tell me what you need to pretty soon, it's going to have to wait until tomorrow." He stroked her hair as he said, "and you and I both know that waiting is really hard on both of us. Do you need a running start?"

Lizzie shook her head and Adam sighed.

He waited a few more minutes for her to talk and then, pulling her to his chest, he asked, "So, something happened at school?"

Lizzie nodded her head against his chest.

"With Mr. Hanson?" Adam tried.

"No…"

"With one of your friends?" Adam asked.

"Sort of…"

"Sally?" Adam asked quietly.

Lizzie head came up quickly as she looked him in the face and said, "How'd you know?"

"Well, Lizzie, she's the only sort of friend you have," he said, smiling. "So what happened?"

"Promise you won't get mad?" She asked returning her eyes to his buttons.

"I can't promise I won't get angry, honey, but I do promise I'll listen and I won't yell and we'll get through this together."

Lizzie nodded.

"So, tell me what happened," Adam encouraged.

"Well, after Jimmy got switched this morning, Mr. Hanson led him around to apologize at lunch, like Paul said, and they came to us first, me, Jenny and Sally. We have lunch together."

"You invited Sally to have lunch with you? That was very thoughtful," he smiled and kissed the side of her head.

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said, lifting her head to look at him. "So, we were having lunch when Jimmy and Mr. Hanson came over to apologize."

"Did you accept his apology?"

"I accepted him apology, even though I still don't like him," Lizzie said vehemently.

"You don't have to like someone to forgive them, was very kind of you. So far so good," Adam said smiling at her.

"Well, Sally didn't want to forgive him she said he was mean and she didn't believe he was really sorry," Lizzie said as her eyes returned to his buttons and she got quiet.

"What happened then?" Adam asked placing his hands over hers to stop her from worrying his buttons.

"I was unkind to her," Lizzie said, blushing.

"You were?" Adam said with a frown. "How exactly were you unkind?"

"I called her an ugly duckling," Lizzie whispered.

"Why did you do that?" Adam asked, shaking his head slightly.

"Lizzie?" He prodded when she didn't answer.

"I was telling her that maybe Jimmy was an ugly duckling like she used to be and that maybe he could be a swan like she was now," Lizzie whined.

"Oh," Adam said pushing out a big breath of air. "Well, it sounds like a misunderstanding to me. You weren't trying to be mean, were you?"

"No, Papa," Lizzie said, shaking her head, "and I tried to talk to her after school and explain, but she just ran away again," Lizzie said, looking up at him.

"Again?" Adam asked.

"Yes, when I said that at lunch, Sally ran away and didn't give me a chance to explain what I meant when I tried. She's real mad, Papa," Lizzie said.

"I'm not surprised, nobody likes to be called an ugly duckling, but it still sounds like a misunderstanding to me. She didn't know about the story I had you read," Adam said, stroking her hair.

"I was just trying to get her to see that maybe Jimmy was going to change like she did," Lizzie said meeting his eyes.

Adam nodded. "What do you think we can do to fix this problem?"

"I don't know, Papa, Sally doesn't forgive very easily," Lizzie said hanging her head. "I tried to apologize, isn't that good enough?"

"Lizzie, sometimes no matter what you do, a person won't accept your apology and when that happens it might mean you won't be friends anymore, other times you need to keep apologizing until the person forgives you. I think this thing with Sally is one of those times. I think you need to keep trying, at least for a little while. Do you think you can do that?"

"But Papa, but she keeps running away and I didn't mean it," Lizzie whined.

"I know you didn't mean it, but that doesn't change the fact that you hurt her feelings, huh?" Adam asked, raising his eyebrows.

Lizzie nodded.

"All right, you try again tomorrow and if she still runs away, maybe we need to let Dr. and Mrs. Fellows know what's going on," Adam put her on her feet, "now, go find Paul and have a good time. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said giving him a hug and running out the door.

When Lizzie entered the barn, Hoss and Paul were engrossed in trying to fix the water pump.

"Can I help?" She asked, coming up to them.

"Oh, we're all right, Lizzie, why don't you do see where Lady is? I seen some of her kittens out near the smokehouse, I think she moved them," Hoss said distractedly.

"Wanna come with me, Paul?" Lizzie asked hopefully.

"Nah, I think I'll just stay here and help Mr. Cartwright," Paul said, never looking at her and handing Hoss a piece he had bent into a better shape, "maybe this piece'll fit better."

"Well, let's just see," Hoss said with a smile.

Lizzie sighed and picking up a brush, she walked over to Blaze's stall and began to brush him, speaking low and quiet to him about her day and Sally.

"You've got knots in your mane," she scolded him just as her father came into the barn.

"How goes the pump repair?" He asked Hoss.

"Well, now that I have such a good assistant, I think we've about got her licked," Hoss said smiling at Paul.

Paul ducked his head at the compliment.

"I don't know what Blaze would do without you, Lizzie," Adam said, coming over to her. "I'm glad you're taking such good care of him."

Lizzie looked up at him and smiled.

"I'm heading off to town to see Carolyn, I'll see you tomorrow morning. All right?" He said, reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, Papa, see you tomorrow. Have a good time," Lizzie said, giving him a hug. "You smell nice," she added with a smile.

"Thank you, fair lady," Adam said, and stroking her hair one more time, he mounted his horse and rode out of the barn.

Lizzie put the brushes and curry combs away and stood for a few minutes watching Paul and Hoss work, before turning sadly and going out the door. She spent the rest of the afternoon playing by herself and doing her chores. She finally ended up in the kitchen helping Hop Sing with dinner.

"Thank you, Missy," Hop Sing said, "You go tell everybody dinner ready."

Lizzie wandered over to the desk where her grandpa was doing paperwork.

"Lots of paperwork today, Grandpa?"

"Unfortunately, yes, Lizzie, I'll be having to work after dinner too," Ben said looking up from the pile of papers in front of him.

"Hop Sing says dinner is ready now," Lizzie said.

"Well, that's a welcome announcement," Ben said standing up.

"I'll go tell Hoss and Paul," she said, running out the door.

Lizzie found them still bent over the pump.

"Is it fixed?" She asked.

"Nah, we almost had it, but when we put it back in place it clogged up," Hoss sighed. "I guess we'll just have to keep working on it, Paul." Hoss said as he clapped Paul on the shoulder.

"Dinner's ready," Lizzie said.

At dinner, Ben was on a tear about the finances and what needed to be done around the ranch. Hoss and he dominated the conversation and Lizzie and Paul kept their heads down and ate quietly. Every now and then Paul would look up at Ben with a worried glance, trying to figure out when he might be able to tell him about what had happened at school, but soon dinner was over and Ben immediately rose and went back to his desk. Lizzie began clearing the table and Paul screwed up his courage and walked over to where Ben was quietly complaining to himself about the high price of everything.

"Mr. Cartwright?" Paul said quietly.

"Yes, Paul, what is it?" Ben said distractedly not looking up from his ledger.

"There's something I need to tell you, Sir," Paul said, looking at the floor.

Hearing the word, Sir, Ben sat back in his chair to give Paul his full attention.

"Yes, Paul, what is it you need to tell me?" He asked seriously.

"Well, Sir, it's something that happened at school today," Paul started.

"Go on," Ben said quietly, folding his hands over his lap.

"Jimmy Phillips came after Sally today and he tried to hit Lizzie…" Paul shifted his eyes to the floor and took a big breath before looking back into Ben's eyes, "and I stopped him."

"Stopped him how?" Ben asked in deep voice.

"He threw a punch and I blocked it," Paul said with the slightest quiver in his voice.

"And did you follow up with a swing of your own?" Ben asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, Sir, I did not," Paul said firmly, raising his chin and looking Ben dead in the eye.

"I see, so you got into a fight at school…" Ben began.

"Not really a fight…" Paul interrupted.

"Were punches thrown?" Ben demanded.

"Yes, Sir, but only by Jimmy. All I did was kept them from landing," Paul insisted.

"I suspect you know I don't condone fighting, is that why you're telling me this?"

"Yes, Sir…my Pa told me to mind you while I was here and I would tell him if I was at home," Paul said, returning his eyes to the ground.

"What did Mr. Hanson do?"

"He punished Jimmy and made him come and apologize to everyone," Paul said, his head coming up again.

"What about you?" Ben asked sternly.

"He didn't punish me. All the other children told him that Jimmy had started it and thrown the first punch and that I was only sticking up for Lizzie," Paul said, his gaze unwavering.

Ben nodded and said, "While I don't like to hear about fights at school, but it sounds like you didn't have much choice. It was brave of you to tell me what happened too. Thank you for protecting Lizzie," Ben said picking up his pencil. "Now I need to get back to work, hmm?"

"Yes, Mr. Cartwright," Paul said, turning away from him with a smile.

Hoss, who was seated on the couch, waved him over and they began to discuss the pump some more and finally drifted back out to the barn.

Lizzie finished clearing the dishes and by the time she came back out to the kitchen, Hoss and Paul were already outside.

"Where's Paul, Grandpa?"

"I don't know Lizzie," Ben said distractedly, "I think he's outside with your Uncle Hoss."

"Oh," she said sadly. Lizzie threw herself of the couch and looked around for something to do, and when her eyes settled on the book of fairy tales, she picked it up and leafed through it before standing and slowly climbing the stairs to her bedroom and settled down on her bed. She quickly got absorbed in her reading.

Ben had been pouring over his books for hours, when he heard the clock begin to chime. Realizing that it was almost time for the children to be in bed, he looked around and realized he was alone in the house. Getting up to stretch his legs, Ben walked out towards the barn and found Hoss and Paul excitedly pumping water into the trough.

"Got it fixed, did you?" He asked happily.

"We sure did, Pa. Paul here's a mechanical genius," Hoss said, patting Paul roughly on the back, who turned and gave him a shove.

"Where's Lizzie?" Ben asked, looking around.

"I haven't seen her," Hoss said frowning, "Paul and me's been working on the pump though. Did you check her room?"

"No, I'll check up there next," he said as he left them to their excitement.

He came in through the kitchen and loaded a plate with cookies before climbing the stairs to Lizzie's room. Ben gave a quiet knock at the door and then went in.

"I thought you might like a little snack," he said putting the plate down on her bedside table. "Are you all right up here?"

"Yes, Grandpa, just reading," Lizzie said, holding up her book.

Ben smiled, "Bedtime in a little bit," he said. "I'm sorry I was so distracted tonight and that Hoss and Paul were busy with the pump. I hope your night wasn't too lonely," he added

"It's all right, Grandpa," Lizzie said, as one small tear ran down her cheek.

"I'm proud of you, Lizzie," Ben said. "Twenty more minutes and then bed time, all right?"

"All right, Grandpa," Lizzie said nodding.

* * *

><p>Lizzie closed her eyes quickly as the door opened.<p>

"What are you doing still awake, Lizzie?" Adam asked as he came in the door.

"Nothing," Lizzie said, slowly opening her eyes.

"You didn't get sent to your room, did you?" Adam asked, reaching out and picking up the empty cookie plate.

"She definitely didn't get sent to her room tonight," Ben said as he looked in through the open door. "That plate held cookies for a very good girl who was especially kind tonight and who decided to spend the night reading in her room."

Adam frowned, "In your room? What about Paul?" He looked quickly from his father to Lizzie.

"He was spending time with Uncle Hoss," Lizzie said, flinging herself back on the pillows.

"Oh?" Adam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"And Lizzie handled it very well," Ben praised. "Good night, son, I'm glad you're home safely. Good night, Lizzie, I'm proud of you and of the way you behaved tonight," Ben said and closed the door behind him.

"So Paul spent the evening with your Uncle Hoss and you spent the night up here reading?" Adam asked, taking a seat on the bed as he reached out to stroke her hair.

"Yes, Papa, he decided he'd rather work on the pump with Uncle Hoss and Grandpa was working on his paperwork, so I came up here to read," Lizzie said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Not to pout?" Adam asked with a smile.

"No," Lizzie said, shaking her head.

"Not even a little?" He asked reaching out to tickle her. "Not the littlest bit? Maybe?"

"All right, maybe a little bit," she giggled.

"Well, pouting a little bit up here in your room is all right. I'm really proud of you for not making Paul feel bad about spending time with your Uncle Hoss. I think he maybe he was missing his father and working on the farm. Sometimes boys just want to spend time with men doing things like fixing pumps," Adam said, reaching out to stroke her face. "It probably felt familiar to him to work with Uncle Hoss and maybe not miss his family so much. Taking your book up here and even if you did pout the tiniest bit, you did a really good thing not letting Paul see you were upset," Adam said as he kissed her forehead.

"Thanks, Papa," Lizzie said with a smile.

"Are you still upset? Is that why you couldn't sleep?" Adam asked, stroking her hair.

"Yes, 'cause he's my friend, not Uncle Hoss's" Lizzie said with a little bit of a pout.

"He didn't mean to hurt your feelings, you know," Adam said.

"I know," Lizzie sighed.

"Your Uncle Hoss didn't either. I think he just saw that Paul needed to spend some time doing man stuff," Adam said softly and nodded. "Paul's had a tough go of it lately. I think maybe we should cut him a bit of a break for just doing what he wanted to do tonight. He usually thinks about you, doesn't he? He even stood up to a bully at school for you, right?"

"Yes and I'm not upset anymore, " Lizzie said softly, snuggling down into the pillows.

"I'm glad, honey," Adam said kissing her forehead and standing up, "Sleep well."


	62. Cherishing An Unforgiving Spirit

The next morning, the upstairs hallway was a flurry of activity. Adam was coming out of his bedroom, when Paul passed him carrying a basket of sheets.

"Good man," Ben said to Paul as he came out of his room.

Paul smiled and blushed as he started down the stairs.

"Good morning, son," he said to Adam as he followed Paul down the stairs.

"Pa," Adam said.

"Morning, big brother," Hoss growled as he came out of his room, blinking and stretching.

"Good morning, Papa," Lizzie called, coming out of her bedroom.

"Good morning, Honey. How did you sleep?" He asked as she hugged his waist.

"Good," she said with a smile, then, glancing at Hoss, she started toward the stairs.

"Lizzie," Adam said with a frown, taking her arm and whispering in her ear, "if you're angry at your Uncle Hoss, you need to tell him. Giving him the silent treatment and not telling him why is no different than if I just put you over my knee and spanked you without telling you why."

Hoss watched the two of them with a frown, trying to figure out what was going on between them.

"Lizzie, did I do something to upset you?" Hoss asked seriously.

"I don't want to tell him, Papa," Lizzie whispered, continuing to ignore Hoss.

"You don't have to tell him, Lizzie, but if you aren't going to tell him, then you need to give him a hug and wish him good morning just like you always do," Adam whispered firmly.

Lizzie sighed and turned to her uncle, "Good morning, Uncle Hoss," she said without much enthusiasm and hugged his legs.

"Good morning, Honey," Hoss said, hugging her back and frowning at Adam. "I'm sorry if I did something to upset you."

"No, it's all right," Lizzie said, distractedly. She turned away from Hoss and getting a nod from her father, she started towards the stairs.

"Same goes for Paul, Lizzie," Adam said and arched an eyebrow at her.

"Yes, Sir," she said.

"What…"" Hoss began, but stopped when Adam held his hand up and waited until Lizzie was downstairs.

"Lizzie is jealous that you spent time with Paul last night and didn't include her," Adam said quietly. "She was awake last night when I got home and we talked about it. I thought she was over it, but apparently she isn't"

"Well, I'll just go down and apologize to her," Hoss said. "We just got caught up fixing the pump and didn't think she'd be interested."

"I wish you wouldn't, Hoss," Adam said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I want Lizzie to learn to forgive people when they hurt her feelings unintentionally without them having to apologize first. She chose not to tell you why she was upset when she had the chance, now she needs to get past it without an apology from either you or Paul."

"All right, Adam," Hoss said, nodding his head. "Come on, I got me a powerful hunger."

As they came down the stairs, they heard Paul say, "Lizzie, your Uncle Hoss said he'd take us to Indian's Grief after school."

"Yeah, Lizzie, we thought it would be fun to go up there while it's pretty safe," Hoss chimed in enthusiastically.

"I can't, Papa won't let me ride a horse since I helped you cheat on the math test," Lizzie said with a frown as she slumped on the couch next to Paul and picked at the ribbon on the front of her dress.

Paul blushed and murmured, "Sorry."

"Excuse us," Adam said, walking down the rest of the stairs and towards the front door. "Lizzie, I'd like to talk to you on the front porch."

Lizzie nodded and slowly followed him out onto the porch.

Adam sighed as he took a seat on one of the chairs and pulled Lizzie over to stand in front of him. "That was uncalled for, Lizzie." He said quietly. "If you are still upset about being excluded last night, then you need to tell Hoss and Paul, rather than trying to make them feel badly."

"But I don't want to," Lizzie whined.

"We've had this discussion, Lizzie. It's not fair to Hoss and Paul to be short with them and not tell them why," Adam said firmly. "What you just said to Paul was very unkind. Either let it go and treat them like you should or tell them why you're upset and give them a chance to apologize."

Lizzie bounced on her legs, crossed her arms and scowled at him.

"You know," Adam said sitting back in his chair. "You are acting towards your Uncle Hoss and Paul, the same way Sally is acting towards you. You did something unintentional to hurt her feelings and she hasn't forgiven you. In fact, she's giving you the silent treatment too."

"But I apologized," Lizzie whined.

"Yes, you did, because you knew that you had done something to hurt her feelings. Uncle Hoss and Paul don't know that they did something to hurt your feelings," Adam said, crossing his arms over his chest. "There is nothing wrong with asking for an apology when you've been hurt. I ask for apologies from you, don't I?"

"Yes…" Lizzie said slowly. "What should I do, Papa?" She looked up at him sadly.

"Whatever you need to do to let go of the hurt, Lizzie, but I guarantee you aren't going to let go of the hurt by doing what you are," Adam said leaning forward and taking her hand. "You need to decide what you need from them, Honey."

"I don't know what to do," Lizzie said quietly.

"Come on, let's go tell them why you're upset," Adam said, standing, and pulling her gently towards the door.

"No!" Lizzie said, quickly pulling her hand from his and reaching into her shirt for the Apache Tear. " I don't want to tell them!" She said fiercely.

"Are you sure, Honey?" Adam said, sitting back down and raising an eyebrow. "If you need an apology to forgive them then it's all right to ask for it."

"I know," Lizzie said, squeezing the Apache Tear.

"All right, but one hint of the silent treatment or temper and the decision won't be yours, it will be mine and you will tell them. Do you understand?" Adam asked, cupping her face.

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said firmly, nodding her head and tucking the Apache tear back into her shirt.

"By the way, you can go to Indian's Grief after school today if you want to, you will just have to ride with Uncle Hoss on his horse," Adam said standing.

"I want to," Lizzie said as she walked back into the house.

"I changed my mind," Lizzie said as she walked over to where Paul and Hoss were sitting. "Papa said I could go to Indian's Grief if I rode with Uncle Hoss."

"Good," Paul said with a smile, "I want to go too."

After breakfast, Paul, Lizzie, Hoss and Adam made their way to school in the buggy. Adam was pleased to see Lizzie talking and laughing with Paul and asking Hoss about the story of Indian's Grief. When they arrived at school, Adam saw Sally out in the schoolyard.

"Lizzie, I see Sally over there," Adam said, inclining his head meaningfully.

"Yes, Sir," Lizzie said with a sigh andclimbing down out of the buggy behind Paul.

"Have a good day, Paul," Hoss called out as Paul ran to join his friends.

Lizzie trudged over to where Sally was, but as she approached and began to speak, Sally ran away. She looked over to her father and Adam waved, "It's all right, Lizzie, have a good day. Just keep trying."

Lizzie nodded and crossed her arms over her chest, "Yes, Papa," she said with a sigh.

You're being mighty hard on that little gal, Adam," Hoss said as he watched Lizzie walk away.

"She needs to apologize for her mistakes, Hoss," Adam said, crossing his arms and staring at him from under the brim of his hat.

"I agree and I would say that she has learned that lesson mighty well," Hoss said amiably, "how many times has she apologized for that mistake so far?'

"Three…" Adam sighed, folding his hands between his legs and staring down at them.

"Three, and what exactly is she apologizing for?' Hoss continued.

"She said something that upset Sally."

"And because of that Sally gets to keep Lizzie dangling? What she said must have been somethin'…shew," Hoss said shaking his head with a frown.

Adam glanced up quickly at Hoss, "Are you saying that I should let Lizzie avoid the consequences of her actions?"

"No, big brother, I am saying that Sally is about as stubborn as a mule and there are consequences for her refusing to accept Lizzie's apology too. Usually you are of the mind that Lizzie should apologize when she thinks that she should, not because you're forcing her."

"I know Hoss and I know I'm more involved in this…this…schoolyard squabble than I normally would be," Adam said, gesturing with his hand towards the schoolyard. "I worry that if Lizzie and Sally don't resolve this, then things are going to be tough for Sally. She's already labeled as a bastard…"

"Adam," Hoss said, "that gal has a pa now and I reckon he's up to the task of standing beside Sally as she faces this situation. I seem to recall a time or two that you and Joe had to face Pa about something he called cherishing an unforgiving spirit."

Adam grimaced and nodded, "Yeah, I remember those times. When we couldn't seem to resolve our differences and forgive each other, he'd set us to work on a chore that required teamwork and if we didn't have it done by the time he got home, he'd tan us both."

"Well, maybe it's time for Sally's pa to know about her cherishing an unforgiving spirit, and see what he has to say about it," Hoss said seriously. "In my opinion, our Lizzie has done more than her part to resolve this."

Adam and Hoss sat quietly for a few moments, watching the children play and then Adam got down out of the wagon, saying, "Hoss, I'll catch up with you at the general merchandise. I want to check in with John Fellows,"

"All right, Adam. See ya there," Hoss said with a smile.

"John?" Adam called as he came into the office.

"Adam," John said, coming out of the back office. "So, good to see you. I've been thinking I need to come out and see how you're recovering, but you've saved me the trip. How do you feel?" He asked as he walked towards Adam. "If you'll remove your shirt, I'd like to see how the wounds are healing."

"I feel pretty well," Adam said as he removed his shirt. "I think I'm healing up."

"Have you been restricting use, like I asked? No, unnecessary work?" John asked as he began to probe the wound. "It looks a little swollen," John said and frowned as Adam hissed. "That should be down by now if you've been resting it."

"Well, I am doing light things around the ranch and I rode into town on Wednesday," Adam admitted.

"Light things?" John asked raising his eyebrows.

"I shoveled out the chicken coop the other day."

"Adam, if you want to heal properly, you're going to have to continue to rest it. The swelling tells me that you've overdone it. I'll give you something to take the swelling down and if you continue to drink Hop Sing's tea and rest, you probably haven't set yourself back too much," John scolded as he picked up Adam's hand to check his arm. "At least, your arm doesn't look too bad. Circulation seems good. Can you move your fingers?"

When Adam did, John said, "At least another week of rest for that shoulder. Even with the splint your arm could use the rest as well."

"I'm about to go stir crazy. It's been over two weeks," Adam said, shrugging back into his shirt.

"I know, but you need to give your body time to recover and taking the time for that to happen now will pay off in the future. Think you can tough it out for another week?"

Adam sighed and nodded.

"Good," John said as he handed Adam a packet. "Make that into a strong tea at bedtime and drink a cup. It will cause you to be drowsy, but it will help with the swelling."

"Thanks, John," Adam said, "I actually didn't come for you to check my injuries. I wanted to speak to you about Lizzie and Sally. Lizzie told me that they had a misunderstanding," Adam started.

"Lizzie told you that?" John asked stepping away and crossing his arms.

"Yes, she told me that Sally thought that she had called her ugly, when she was actually trying to tell her that while she used to be an ugly duckling now she was a swan."

John shook his head, "I don't understand."

Adam smiled slightly, "When Sally lived with us, Lizzie and Sally didn't get along very well. Lizzie was not happy when Sally remained with us after her mother got hurt," Adam sighed and looked at John to see how he was reacting to the story. "She took it out on the family and I ended up restricting her to her room, and telling her to read the story of The Ugly Duckling."

"The one by Hans Christian Andersen?" John asked as he started to relax.

"That's the one," Adam said, nodding, "and I told her that she needed to give Sally another chance because it was possible she was turning into a swan." Adam took a breath and continued. "Did Sally tell you what happened at school?"

"No, only that Lizzie had called her ugly, which I found really difficult to believe since Lizzie has done nothing but stand up for her," John said, letting his body relax as he realized how defensive his stance was, "What I don't understand is why Lizzie was telling her about the ugly duckling."

"Apparently, Jimmy Phillips finally got some much needed discipline from Mr. Hanson and was brought around at lunch to apologize for his bullying ways," Adam said, squinting a bit as he tried to choose his words carefully for the next part, "Lizzie and Jenny both told Jimmy that they forgave him and Sally….".

Adam grimaced.

"And Sally didn't?" John asked, frowning.

"Well…no," Adam finally said, "Lizzie was trying to convince her that perhaps Jimmy had changed the way that Sally had and maybe he wasn't an ugly duckling any more than Sally was." Adam winced as he said those words.

John whistled. "I think I can understand why Sally was upset."

"Yes, it wasn't Lizzie's finest moment, but she was trying to compliment Sally in a sort of backhanded way."

John laughed, dropping his hands to his sides. "A very backhanded way."

"Lizzie has tried to apologize three times so far and Sally hasn't wanted to hear it. I was hoping maybe you, Ruth and I could encourage Sally to be a bit more forgiving," Adam said. "I've convinced Lizzie to try one more time with Sally, but I'm going to be honest with you, if Sally can't find it in her heart to forgive Lizzie, I won't ask her to apologize again."

John nodded.

"John, I know I don't need to tell you this, but I really want Sally and Lizzie to be friends because we're friends, but also because with Sally being so new in town, she needs all the friends she can get."

"No, I agree, Adam and I appreciate it. I'm sure Ruth will feel the same. I also appreciate you encouraging Lizzie to keep trying," John sighed. "Sally still has a lot to learn about how to treat people. I know you and your father made huge strides with her when she was staying with you and Ruth and I are trying to keep Sally on that path. I want her to be friends with Lizzie and Jenny because they are such good girls; I'm hoping that Sally will catch a little bit of that from them. They are also well liked and I think that if they accept Sally so will the others. Do you think you and Lizzie might come by the house after school to see if we can resolve this?"

"Of course," Adam said with a smile. "It would be our pleasure."

* * *

><p>Adam and Hoss rode back into town that afternoon and watched Sally run to her house as Lizzie and Paul walked towards the wagon.<p>

"No luck with Sally?" Adam asked as Lizzie and Paul climbed aboard.

"No," Lizzie said in a grumpy voice.

"Lizzie tried, Mr. Cartwright," Paul said, "She and Jenny invited her to have lunch with them and Lizzie tried to talk to her in class, but Sally just ignored her."

"All right, I think Sally has had her chance. I think her parents need to know about how she's acting," Adam said with a sigh, "While Paul and Hoss load up the supplies, you and I, Lizzie will go over to the Fellows' and let them know about Sally."

"Papa," Lizzie whined, "why do I have to go?"

"Because, you're the one she's doing this to," Adam said, climbing down for the wagon. "Let's go. Hoss, Lizzie and I'll meet you and Paul at the mercantile. We won't be long, so you can still go to Indian's Grief this afternoon if the children still want to. Lizzie, Paul what do you say?"

"Yes," Paul said excitedly. Lizzie nodded sadly when Adam squeezed her hand.

"All righty," Hoss said as he slapped the reins, "we'll see you at the mercantile."

Instead of going right to Sally's house, Adam led Lizzie over to a bench in the shade. Taking a seat, he said, "Your Uncle Hoss thinks I've been too hard on you about Sally." Adam draped his arm over her shoulders as he said those words. "What do you think?"

When Lizzie looked down at her hands, Adam said, "It looks like you agree."

Lizzie didn't look up, but she nodded.

"I think you're both right," Adam said, with a small grin.

When Lizzie looked up at him, he continued. "I worry about Sally fitting in, Lizzie. She's new in town and she doesn't have many friends and she's about as stubborn as a mule." Adam winked at her when she giggled. "I'm going to be really honest with you, Lizzie. I feel like we need to help Sally. I think that if we can't get her to forgive you, she's going to be really lonely. You have lots of friends and not having Sally be your friend, isn't going to make that much of a difference to you, but to her it's going to really matter. I fear that if you aren't her friend, that no one else will be either. Do you think that's right?"

Lizzie looked back down at her hands and didn't say anything.

"If you're worried about getting in trouble for saying what you're thinking, don't be," Adam said in an encouraging voice. "I really want to know."

"I don't want to have to apologize anymore," Lizzie whispered, glancing up at Adam through her eyelashes, when she saw him nodding she went on, "I've tried to be friends with her, but she's just mean."

"Sally needs to learn how to treat people," Adam said. "I think it's Sally's turn to apologize and I think this is a time when you need to ask for it. I'm not going to make you do this, Lizzie, but I hope you will."

"What do you want me to do, Papa?" Lizzie asked timidly.

"I want you to go over to the Fellows' with me and tell Dr. Fellows that you've apologized to Sally and she won't accept your apology."

"And then what?" Lizzie sighed.

"And then we'll see what Dr. and Mrs. Fellows have to say about how Sally is acting." Adam said quietly.

"I don't want to," Lizzie whispered.

"All right," Adam said, with a nod, as he stood "Let's go find Hoss and Paul so that you can head off to Indian's Grief."

"Really?" Lizzie asked excitedly, jumping up.

"Yes, really, I already said I was being too hard on you and I'm not going to make you deal with Sally anymore. She's on her own. Come on," Adam said, reaching out his hand.

"But I don't want her to be lonely," she said, crossing her arms and sitting back down. She chewed her lip and looked up at him.

"So, what do you want to do?" Adam asked, taking a seat next to her and folding his hands, he leaned back against the tree, gazing our across the town.

"I don't want to be a tattletale…"

"All right…" Adam said and waited.

"And I don't want to have to apologize anymore…" Lizzie continued. "Do you think if we asked them for dinner on Sunday…that might help?"

"It might. It might let Dr. and Mrs. Fellows see how Sally is treating you. Is that what you want to do?" Adam asked.

"Yes…" Lizzie said slowly. "I guess."

"I'm very proud of you, Honey," Adam said and kissed the top of her head. "Let's go ask them to dinner."

Adam and Lizzie walked over to the house hand in hand and as they approached the door, Adam asked, "You ready?"

Lizzie nodded.

"Do you want me to ask, or do you want to ask?"

"Can we do it together?" Lizzie asked earnestly.

"Of course," Adam nodded and knocked on the door.

"Hi Dr. Fellows," Lizzie said when the door opened.

"Why, Lizzie so nice to see you. Adam," John said meeting his eyes.

"Lizzie and I thought it was high time we had the Fellows family out to the Ponderosa," Adam said, guiding Lizzie in through the front door.

"We'd love to come wouldn't we?" He asked turning to Ruth and watching Sally go into her bedroom and slam the door.

Ruth stood and joined John at the door. "We'd love to come, what day were you thinking?"

"Well, why don't you just ride back with us after church on Sunday?" Adam asked.

"That would be fine," Dr. Fellows said, as he crouched down in front of Lizzie. "I hear Sally's been giving you a hard time."

"Yes, Sir," Lizzie responded after looking up at Adam and getting a nod.

"I'm sorry, Lizzie, I suspect Sally hasn't been treating you the way friends do has she?"

"How did you know?" Lizzie asked.

"Well, I know that there was a misunderstanding between the two of you and knowing you as well as I do, I'm sure you apologized," John said, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, Sir, I apologized a lot…she won't forgive me," Lizzie said earnestly.

"I suspected as much when she went into her room and slammed the door," John said in an irritated voice, as he glanced at the closed door of the bedroom. "It was very kind of you and your father to invite us to dinner in spite of that, and I hope by tomorrow or at the very latest, Sunday, Sally will understand that friends forgive friends especially over misunderstandings."

"Do you think I should apologize again?" Lizzie asked. Adam smiled at those words and put his hand gently on her shoulder.

"Well, how many times have you apologized already?' John asked standing up and crossing his arms.

"Five: twice yesterday and three times today," Lizzie said.

"In my opinion, five apologies are more than enough over a misunderstanding. You have done everything that can be expected. It is up to Sally now and her mother and I will be having a talk with her," John said seriously as he put an arm around Ruth and pulled her into his hip.

"Yes, Lizzie, you are a good friend," Ruth said "and thank you for the dinner invitation. That was very kind of you."

"Sunday, then," Adam said, touching his hat and steering Lizzie out the door.

"That was very well done, Fair Lady," Adam said as the door closed behind him.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore," Lizzie said, turning towards the mercantile.

"Fine with me," Adam said with a smile as he followed her.

When they arrived at the mercantile, Paul and Hoss had the wagon loaded.

"How'd it go?" Hoss asked, pushing back his hat.

"They're coming for dinner on Sunday," Adam replied as everyone loaded into the wagon.. "Lizzie suggested it and I think it was a fine idea."

"Glad I'm going home on Saturday," Paul laughed.

Lizzie giggled and shoved his arm. Hoss and Adam both frowned at the children and then broke into laughter with them as they headed back to the Ponderosa.


	63. The Fire

"Lizzie, run in and change your clothes, so you and Paul can go with Hoss to Indian's Grief, all right?" Adam said as the wagon came to a stop in the Ponderosa barnyard.

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said, "I'll hurry," she yelled, jumping out of the wagon and running into the house.

"I need to unload things here, Lizzie, and tend to a few things," Hoss called after her, "then I'll saddle the horses. Paul, you stay close."

"Yes, Sir," Paul said. "Can I help?"

"Nah, I can handle things. You just stay close."

"Yes, Sir. I'll be in the barn," Paul called over his shoulder as he ran off.

Paul picked up a stick and was dragging it through the dirt on the floor, when his gaze fell on the small forge that was used to make horseshoes. He peered inside it and saw a few coals still burning, so he took his stick and poked into the embers, blowing on them, trying to get a flame going. He smiled when he saw the bellows and slowly moved them up and down, reigniting the coals, which caused sparks to fly. What he failed to notice was a few of the sparks falling on a pile of straw and bursting into flame. Paul felt the heat behind him and when he turned and saw the fire, he panicked. He tried to stomp out the fire out, kicking dirt on it and when none of that worked, he ran, knocking over the pan of embers in the process, adding fuel to the fire.

A short time later, Lizzie came out of the house and began looking around for Hoss and Paul, when she saw the smoke coming out of the barn, she ran to the door, and saw that the flames were starting to lick at the posts supporting the roof.

"Fire!" She screamed and ran towards the house. "Fire! Fire!" She kept calling as she threw open the door to the house.

Ben and Adam looked up quickly from the conversation they were having when Lizzie burst into the room.

"Fire!" She said breathlessly, taking several gulping breaths and she waved towards the barn, before she turned back around and ran out the door, followed quickly by the two men.

Adam quickly caught up to Lizzie and grabbing her by the arm, he pulled her to the water trough. "Pump the water and keep pumping until we get the fire out." He commanded.

Hoss ran up with an armful of buckets and began filling them from the trough and handing them off to Adam, Ben and Little Joe as they furiously began to try to douse the fire. At first the fire put up a wall of flame keeping them at a distance, but as the water began to do it's work, the flames died down and they quickly switched to wet burlap sacks to beat the flames out on the walls and posts that had started to blacken.

"You can stop pumping now, Lizzie," Adam finally said as he leaned against the barn, trying to catch his breath. Ben, Hoss and Joe came out of the barn and leaned next to him panting and coughing and trying to calm down. Joe pushed himself off the side of the barn as he caught his breath and he went back inside, picking up the forge pan with one of the wet burlap sacks, he thoughtfully set it into place.

Adam's eyes had followed Joe and as his adrenaline began to calm down, Adam's eyes fell on Lizzie who was leaning against the trough trying to catch her breath as well. He frowned and standing up, he took her by the upper arm and led her quickly over to the wood cutting stump.

"How did this fire start?" He growled taking a seat so he was at eye level with her and shaking her arm a bit. Ben, Hoss and Adam followed him to the stump and stood around her in a loose ring.

Lizzie eyes got wide as she looked at her papa and then up at the three other men who were gathered around her with frowns on their faces and arms crossed over their chests.

"I don't know," she whispered, looking at her father and then quickly at each of the other men in turn. "I don't, Papa."

"Elizabeth, now is not the time to lie to me," Adam said darkly. "The fire pan for the forge was knocked over. That started the fire. Were you in there playing with it? You know that's not allowed!"

"Adam," Hoss said quietly, "give the little gal a chance. Lizzie's a good girl and she's gonna tell us the truth."

Adam glanced at Hoss and nodded, before her returned his gaze to Lizzie.

"I need the truth, Lizzie," Adam said, relaxing his face and trying to speak gently. He let go of her arm and took her hands in his. "What do you know about the fire?"

"Nothing, Papa," Lizzie said, gaining a bit of confidence. She glanced up at Hoss who was nodding at her. "I came outside after I changed my clothes looking for Uncle Hoss and Paul and I saw the smoke. Then when I looked in the barn I saw the fire and I ran inside the house and told you as fast as I could."

Adam squinted his eyes at her, trying to reassure himself that she was telling the truth and then he pulled her into a big hug. "You saved the barn, Lizzie. I'm really proud of you. "

Soon all the men were laughing with relief and congratulating her.

"If you hadn't seen that smoke and called us, we could have lost all the animals," Ben said patting her shoulder.

"I don't think I've ever seen you run so fast, Hoss," Little Joe laughed.

"I don't think I have ever run that fast, little brother," Hoss said, joining in the laughter of relief they were all sharing.

As they began to calm down more, Adam said, "Where's Paul?"

They quickly turned sober as they all had the same thought.

"Lizzie have you seen him?" Ben asked.

"No Grandpa, I don't know where he is," Lizzie said sadly, shaking her head.

"Little Joe and I'll find him," Hoss said, walking off and calling Paul's name.

"When you find him, I want to see him in the house," Ben said with a growl and stalked off to the house.

"Is it all right if I go look for him too, Papa?" Lizzie asked.

"Yes, honey, but stay within calling distance. So, you'll hear if your uncles find him," Adam said, standing and squeezing her shoulder. "I'll be in the house with your grandpa. If you find him, you make sure he comes and finds your grandpa."

"Do you think he started the fire, Papa?" She asked quietly.

"It looks like he may have, Lizzie," Adam said sadly as his eyes shifted back to the barn. "That forge pan didn't fall over on it's own and Paul's nowhere around. If he weren't responsible, I'll bet he would have come when he heard you calling fire."

Lizzie nodded and began to walk off to the smokehouse wondering if maybe Paul was hiding in there.

Hoss eventually found him curled in the hollow of a tree.

"Hey, Paul," Hoss said softly when he saw him.

Paul stood quickly and started to run, but Hoss reached out and stopped him.

"My pa wants to see you and it looks to me like you know why," Hoss said angrily and frowning at the boy. "Did you start that fire, Paul?"

Paul struggled in his grip for a few moments before he sagged in defeat and said, "It was an accident, Hoss. I didn't mean for it to happen."

Hoss looked at the distraught boy and his features softened. "I reckon you didn't, but you still need to come talk to Pa about it. Let's go."

Paul took a hitched breath and allowed himself to be led back to the house. When they came in the door, Paul would have bolted again, had Hoss not had his hand on the boys shoulder. Ben and Adam stood from their seats and frowned at Paul

"Sit down, Paul," Ben said pointing that the coach. "Boys will you excuse us please?" He continued. Crossing his arms, he waited as Adam and Hoss left through the front door and Paul slowly came forward to sit down on the couch.

"What do you know about the fire, Paul?" Ben asked in a low voice.

"It was an accident, Mr. Cartwright!" Paul exclaimed. "I can explain."

"Proceed," Ben said, fixing his eyes on Paul.

"I was just wondering about the bellows and I just pumped them a couple of times and I didn't see that the sparks had started the fire, I tried to put it out, but I couldn't," Paul said, lowering his head and staring at his hands.

"So you knew about the fire?" Ben said in an even deeper, angrier voice.

Paul nodded, but didn't answer.

"You knew there was a fire in my barn that could have killed all the animals and burned the hay for the stock and possibly spread to the ranch house?"

Paul nodded again, lowering his head even farther.

"And what did you do?" Ben asked loudly, beginning to pace.

Paul stayed silent.

"Answer me, boy, what did you do?"

A very long minute went by before Ben stopped in front of Paul and asked again slowly, in a quieter voice, "When you saw that the fire had started, what did you do?"

"I ran," Paul whispered.

"You ran," Ben said in an exasperated voice, throwing out his arms. "Rather than get help and keep the fire from getting any farther out of control than it already was, you ran. Is that correct?'

"Yes, Sir," Paul whispered as a tear ran down his cheek.

"In the corner," Ben said angrily, pointing at the corner near his desk. "Get yourself into the corner."

Paul jumped up and practically ran to the corner and stood there shaking.

Ben sat down in his chair and crossing his arms angrily he stared at the boys back and tried to get his anger in enough control to handle this the way it needed to be handled. As his anger started to lessen, Ben blew out a big breath of air and said quietly, "Come over here, Paul."

"Sit," he said and gestured towards the coach.

Paul came slowly from the corner and sank back down on the couch.

"Do you know why I'm so angry with you?" Ben asked quietly.

"Because I nearly set your barn on fire and…" Paul started, keeping his eyes on his hands.

"Look at me," Ben interrupted, "I know that you're ashamed and don't want to meet my eyes, but you need to look at me."

"Yes, Sir," Paul said as he slowly raised his eyes to meet Ben's.

"Good man," Ben said nodding. "Now, continue."

"I nearly set the barn on fire," Paul said in a hitching voice.

"How?" Ben asked.

"Because I pumped the bellows and the sparks caught the straw on fire…" Paul continued.

"Yes, you were curious and did something that you shouldn't have, and nearly set my barn on fire," he thundered, "but that is _not_ why I'm angry with you."

"You're not? I don't understand. You said I could have killed all your animals and I'm sorry Mr. Cartwright," Paul said in a rush and began to cry.

"And well you should be, Paul, but that's not why I'm angry at you. The fire was a mistake. It's what happened after the fire started that has me so angry. What did you say you did after the fire started?"

Paul's eyes went back to his hands and he remained quiet.

"What did you do, Paul?' Ben asked again more firmly. "You've said it already, but I want you to say it again. What did you do?'

"I ran," Paul finally forced out.

"Yes, you ran and had Lizzie not seen the smoke, our barn could very well have burnt to the ground, "Ben took a deep breath and debated with himself whether or not to say the next words, "Lizzie's father thought she had started the fire."

"No," Paul said, looking up quickly. "Does he know it was me?"

"Yes, Adam trusts Lizzie to tell the truth, even when she's in trouble and he believed her when she told him she hadn't done it." Ben sighed and took a seat next to Paul and put his arms around the boy's shoulders.

"But this is not the first time that you've left Lizzie alone to face something that you had done and this is not the first time that you've run when you did something wrong and that, son, is why I am _so_ angry at you," Ben finished quietly. "The fire was a mistake and had you come to get help immediately, I would have been upset, but I understand mistakes, but running away to allow the barn to burn? Why did you run, Paul?'

"But I didn't mean to run. I just did it," Paul pleaded.

"You need to spend some time thinking up a better answer than "I just did it", Paul." Ben said. "I want you out in the barn cleaning up the mess from the fire, put the burnt straw in the wheelbarrow and when you get that done, find one of us and ask what other chores you can do. And while you're doing those chores," Ben said putting his hand under the boy's chin and lifting it. "I want you to think about why you ran. When you think you have a good answer, then you come find me and we'll talk."

"Yes, Sir, Mr. Cartwright, " Paul said with a sniff. "Are you going to whip me?"

"No, I'm not, Paul," Ben said standing and pulling Paul to his feet. "I don't think a whipping is going to help you find the answer to my question. Do you?" Ben questioned, as he placed his hand on the boy's shoulder and walked him towards the door.

"No, Sir," Paul said guiltily.

"Get busy and you let me know when you have an answer for me," Ben said leaning against the door frame as he watched the boy walk towards the barn. Paul glanced at Lizzie who was playing with Lady as he made his way to the barn. She met his eyes and watched as he slowly walked into the barn.

"Grandpa?" Lizzie asked as she ran over to Ben. "Did Paul start the fire?"

"Yes, Lizzie, he did," Ben said pushing away from the door and turning to go back in the house.

"Is he in trouble?"

"What do you think?" Ben asked, stopping and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Are you punishing him?" She asked, crossing her own arms over her chest.

"He'll be cleaning up the mess from the fire," Ben said taking a seat at his desk. "Now you go find something to keep yourself busy. I have work to do."

"Yes, Grandpa," Lizzie said, as she turned to go. "Grandpa, is it all right if I go and talk to Paul?"

Ben looked up at her and thought a long minute, "Yes, Lizzie, you can go and talk to him, but don't stay too long and don't help him with his chores. He's the one being punished. All right?" He said gruffly.

"Yes, Grandpa, thank you," Lizzie said, running forward and giving his cheek a kiss before running out the door.

Ben huffed but smiled as he opened his account ledger.

Lizzie lingered in the doorway to the barn and watched Paul work.

"Paul?" she finally said.

"Oh, hello, Lizzie," Paul said with a blush and began raking even more earnestly.

"Grandpa said you had to do chores because you started the fire," Lizzie said in a matter of fact tone.

"Yes…" Paul said not looking up.

Lizzie silently watched him work.

"See you later," Lizzie finally said and turned to leave.

"Lizzie?" Paul called after her. "Have you ever been in trouble with your Grandpa?"

"Yes…" she said tentatively.

"Like really in trouble?" Paul asked as he stopped raking and looked at her.

"Yes, when Papa's not around, I have to mind Grandpa and I get in trouble when I don't," Lizzie said nodding.

"Have you ever done something bad enough that he gave you a licking?" Paul asked with a blush.

"Did Grandpa spank you?" Lizzie asked. "I'm sorry."

"No, he didn't _whip_ me," Paul said with a scowl. "He said I have to do chores and think about…about…what I did," Paul said hesitantly. "Pa would have just given me a licking."

"You're lucky," Lizzie said, "Papa and Uncle Hoss and Uncle Joe say Grandpa's tannings are pretty bad. I don't ever want to be spanked by Grandpa."

"So, he's never tanned you?" Paul asked and started raking furiously again.

"No, why?"

Paul shrugged, "Just wondering."

Lizzie frowned, "Do you wish he'd a spanked you?'

Paul just shrugged and kept raking until Lizzie finally left.

Lizzie came out of the barn to find Hoss pulling his horse out of the corral.

"I'll just go get my saddle and we'll head out, Lizzie. You ready?"

"Can Paul come too?" Lizzie asked.

"Well," Hoss said, rubbing his face, "I don't reckon he can. Your Grandpa had some stern words for him and I expect he won't be allowed to come. Your Grandpa's probably punishing him, don't you reckon?"

Lizzie nodded, "He is; he's in the barn cleaning up from the fire."

"Well, then I guess it's just you and me," Hoss said. "I'll go get the saddle."

"But I want Paul to go," Lizzie whined.

"Lizzie, what Paul's doing is more important right now. Your grandpa is trying to teach him something and he ain't going to learn that at Indian's Grief, he's going to learn that in the barn," Hoss said, rubbing his face again.

"Are you two heading off?" Adam asked as he walked up to join them.

"Soon as I saddle the horse," Hoss said turning toward the barn.

"Papa, can Paul come with us?" Lizzie whined. "He's only going to be here a few more days and we won't get to go!"

"Lizzie, you know Paul's being punished by your grandpa and trips to Indian's Grief aren't going to happen for him today," Adam said as he raised an eyebrow.

"But I want him to go," Lizzie said and stomped her foot.

"That looks dangerously close to a tantrum, young lady, perhaps you should stay home too," Adam said with a frown.

"But I want her to go with me," Hoss said as he walked up. He stomped his foot and tried to whine, even as a huge grin split his face.

"Well, Hoss, are you willing to take a whining and complaining little girl with you?" Adam said with a grimace.

"Not a little girl," Lizzie complained softly, kicking at the dirt.

"I reckon, I am," Hoss said, acting as if he hadn't heard her "but I think maybe I have a cure for whining and complaining big girls," Hoss said as he grabbed Lizzie and began to tickle her. She giggled and squirmed in his arms and when he finally let her go, Adam swung her up into his arms.

"Did Hoss cure you of the grumps?' Adam asked with a smile, kissing her loudly on the cheek.

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie giggled and then looked wistfully at the door to the barn.

"I'm sorry Paul can't come along with you today, Lizzie," Adam said seriously, as he put her on her feet. "We'll make plans to take him along another day. All right?"

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie sighed.

"Chub is saddled, let's load up," Hoss called and held his arms out to her and depositing her in the saddle, he swung up behind her.

"Have fun you two," Adam called as they rode away.

"Uncle Hoss," Lizzie said, "How come Grandpa is making Paul do chores instead of spanking him?"

"Lizzie, that's none of our business," Hoss said with a frown.

"But Paul asked me," Lizzie said quietly.

"He did?"

"Uh huh, he asked me if Grandpa had ever spanked me and when I told him he hadn't, he said that Grandpa hadn't licked him either and it was like he thought he would. So, why didn't he?" Lizzie asked thoughtfully.

"I don't rightly know, Lizzie, but your Grandpa has been a pa for a lot of years and I expect he has his reasons. I think you and I should just stay out of it, all right?"

Yes, Uncle Hoss," Lizzie said with a sigh, leaning back against him.

"Well, looky there," Hoss said, "It's Mr. Simpson. You introduce yourself when we get up there, you hear?"

"But we already know Mr. Simpson," Lizzie said, looking up at Hoss.

"I know, but he doesn't remember we know him so we just need to introduce ourselves," Hoss replied. "Ho there Mr. Simpson, it's Hoss Cartwright, how're you doing today?"

"Who is it?" The old man asked, squinting at them through his dirty glasses.

"I'm Hoss Cartwright, Mr. Simpson," Hoss said, nudging Lizzie.

"And I'm Lizzie Cartwright," Lizzie said promptly.

"Nice to meet you two. Ezra Simpson's my name. What are you doing out this fine afternoon?" The old man asked.

"Well, Mr. Simpson, we thought we'd take a look see at Indian's Grief," Hoss said.

"I wouldn't go up there if I was you. I heard tell that some banditos have been using it as a hide out here lately. Wouldn't be safe, nope wouldn't be safe," he turned and walked away slowly muttering to himself.

"Do you think he's right, Uncle Hoss?"

"Well, Lizzie, I figure we probably shouldn't take the chance. I'll ask around and see what I can find out from other people, but I guess we'll have to head back home now," Hoss said with a sigh. "I'm sorry, Liz."

Lizzie nodded and sighed along with him.

"Back so soon?" Adam called from the front porch.

"Yes, we ran into old Mr. Simpson and said he'd heard about banditos up that a way, so Lizzie and I decided we couldn't risk it," Hoss said as he lifted Lizzie down to the ground. Then dismounted himself and walked the horse over to the corral.

"I'm done with the barn, Mr. Cartwright," Paul said, coming out of the barn and walking over to the porch.

"Those logs that were split this morning can use stacking, Paul," Adam said.

"Yes, Sir," Paul said, as he turned towards the woodpile.

"Papa," Lizzie said, coming up to Adam. "Mr. Simpson doesn't remember me. How come?"

"Well, Lizzie, Mr. Simpson's older and he doesn't remember things as well as he used to. Did you have to introduce yourself to him?"

"Uncle Hoss told me to," Lizzie said, nodding. "Does everybody forget people when they get older?"

"Not everybody, Lizzie, but it happens a lot of the time, and we need to be thoughtful not to make people feel bad about forgetting. I'm glad you introduced yourself. That was the right thing to do," Adam said with a smile.

"I'm gonna go read," Lizzie said, glancing over her shoulder at Paul.

"All right, honey. Be sure you come down in time to do chores before dinner," Adam said leaning back in his chair.

"I will," Lizzie said, running into the house.

Paul had moved from stacking wood to raking out stalls when dinnertime came.

"Time to come in for dinner, Paul," Ben said leaning in the door of the stall with his thumb hooked in his pocket.

"I'm not very hungry, Mr. Cartwright, I think I'll just keep working," Paul said, never looking up.

"Paul," Ben said in a low, firm voice "You'll join us for dinner. Let's go."

"Yes, Sir," Paul said, glancing quickly at him before looking down at the floor and walking past Ben as quickly as he could.

"Paul," Ben said, placing a hand on his shoulder and walking along beside him. "don't run from this. That's part of the lesson I hope you're learning. You need to hold your head up and accept what you have coming and not run from it, or hide out in the barn, which is the same as running. Yes, I'm angry with you, and I am not going to let you run from that anger, you need to face it square on. But, regardless of how angry I may be or what you've done, I still want you at my table with my family. Do you hear me?"

"Yes, Sir," Paul said, daring to look up.

"Good man," Ben said, moving his hand to Paul's neck and giving it a squeeze "hold your head up. Shame has no place here. I want you sorry, not ashamed."

Paul nodded and they walked into the house together.

"Hi, Paul," Lizzie said with a slight smile as Paul quickly slid into his seat.

"Hey, Lizzie," Paul said, keeping his head down and not returning the smile.

"Well, Lizzie, Paul how was school?" Ben asked as he began to fill his plate.

"Jimmy Phillips came to school with his Ma," she giggled. "then a little while later, Mr. Phillips came and brought Mrs. Phillips out. Then Jimmy and Mr. Hanson came to the door and watched them walk away. Jimmy didn't look very happy."

"What do you think that meant?" Little Joe said with a smile.

"Mrs. Phillips was probably mad the Jimmy got in trouble with Mr. Hanson, but Mr. Phillips didn't agree," Lizzie laughed again.

"So, how was Jimmy today?" Adam asked.

"He was all right, wasn't he Paul?" Lizzie asked.

Yeah, I suppose," Paul said, pushing his dinner around his plate and keeping his eyes down. "We let him play baseball with us today. He's not that good."

Ben smiled. "That was good of you, Paul: inviting him to play. Maybe Jimmy hasn't had much of a chance to play baseball since he's been a bit of a bully and people haven't included him."

"I guess," Paul said and lapsed into silence.

"Well, what else happened today?" Ben asked.

"Lizzie and I invited the Fellows family to dinner on Sunday. We thought it was high time that we had all three of them at the same table, right Liz?" Adam said.

"Uh huh," Lizzie said trying to talk around a full mouth of food. "Sorry," she said, quickly swallowing, as Adam frowned at her.

"I think that will be a lot of fun," Ben said. "It will be good to see them."

Dinner continued with conversations about everyone's day and was quickly over as Paul continued to be silent and wouldn't be drawn into conversation.

As everyone finished, Ben pushed his chair back, folded his hands between his legs and sat back. He turned his gaze towards Paul, who ducked his head. Hoss and Little Joe, stood quickly having recognized that look.

"Well, Pa, I think we'll be heading into town," Hoss said, "Me and Little Joe will see you in the morning."

Ben nodded silently and watched them walk out the door before again turning his gaze to Paul.

Lizzie stood and began to collect the dishes.

"Paul and I will take care of clearing the dishes tonight, Lizzie," Ben said quietly, never taking his eyes off Paul.

"Yes, Grandpa," Lizzie said, putting the dishes down and looking at her father.

"Lizzie, how would you feel about a guitar lesson tonight? My hand won't let me finger the chords, and I've been missing the music. Maybe I can teach you a few new chords tonight. Would you like that?" Adam asked, reaching out to take her hand.

"Yes, Papa!" Lizzie said with a smile.

"All right, I'll go get a lantern, if you'll get my guitar and I'll meet you on the porch," Adam said standing up.

"All right," Lizzie said, glancing quickly at Paul and then her grandfather before walking towards the corner where Adam's guitar was leaning.

"I'll go finish work on the stalls," Paul said standing quickly, feeling uncomfortable with Ben's eyes on him.

"No, I think it's time you and I talk," Ben said, cutting a slice of pie and replacing Paul's plate with it, "You didn't eat much dinner. Why don't you work on that slice of pie while we talk."

"Yes, Sir," Paul said, sitting back down and dutifully picking up his fork before proceeding to pick the slice of pie to pieces.

Ben raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything about the pie. Instead he said, "Have you been thinking about the question I asked you?"

"Yes, Sir," Paul said quietly and becoming very intent on the destruction of the pie.

"Do you have an answer for me?" Ben asked, leaning forward.

Paul shrugged. Ben sat quietly and waited, finally Paul looked up at him.

"I guess I was afraid of what you'd do, you know, because of the fire."

So you ran because you were afraid of being punished?" Ben asked.

"Yes, Sir…" Paul said hesitantly.

"I suppose you being afraid of being punished might have happened after you ran, but I don't think that's why you ran originally," Ben said sitting back.

"You don't?" Paul asked, turning his eyes back to the pie.

"Are you telling me you thought about being punished before you ran?" Ben asked seriously.

Paul shrugged again.

"You know what I think?" Ben asked, raising and eyebrow. "I think you ran because you wanted me to think well of you," he continued when Paul looked up at him. "I think you didn't want me to know that you had started the fire because you thought I would think less of you if I knew. But the truth of the matter is I thought very highly of you before the fire and that hasn't changed."

Paul's head slowly came up as the meaning of Ben's words began to sink in.

"I think you're a fine boy and I also think that you care what people think of you and that, Paul, is a sign of growing up: that you think first about what people will think of you because of how you act. Young children are very self-centered, you know. Usually the only thing keeping them behaving the way they should is knowing that if they don't, they're going to be punished. So, I suspect that the thought of punishment didn't even cross your mind until you had crawled into your hiding place." Ben said. "Am I right?"

"Yes, Sir," Paul said softly.

"You've shown you care about people. You showed that when you stood up to Jimmy when he threatened Lizzie and when you invited him to play baseball with you today. But those times were easy, Paul, because you stepped in to help with something that wasn't a mess of your own making. What's hard, is admitting and cleaning up your own messes," Ben said with a frown.

He leaned back in his chair and was silent until Paul raised his head and once again met Ben's eyes.

"You told me that your pa has said that men don't run when they're in the wrong," Ben said sternly.

"Yes, Sir," Paul said and his eyes returned to his hands.

"Your Pa showed you he believes and practices that when he came to school the other day. He came and stood in that classroom and Adam said he apologized to you, in front of Adam and Lizzie and your teacher, Mr. Hanson. Do you think that was easy for him?" Ben asked softly.

"No, Sir," Paul whispered.

"No, but he did it because it was the right thing to do. He didn't run from the mess. He came forward," Ben said nodding, "and I hope you learn that from him because your pa has the right of it."

"Yes, Sir," Paul said and nodded.

Ben grew quiet and thoughtful as he put his chin on his fist and looked away at the fire and then rested his cheek on his fist as he turned back to look at Paul.

"You made the wrong decision today, Paul, because instead of thinking about what was right, you worried about my opinion of you and then you worried about being punished. When your thoughts should have been about standing up and admitting what had happened and finding a solution," Ben finished.

Paul nodded sadly and started to pick at the mud on his trousers.

"That feeling you have right now, Paul, I want you to remember it when you want to run, but don't hang on to it. You can't go back and change the past. You can only learn from it."

"Yes, Mr. Cartwright. I'm really sorry about the barn and about running away," Paul said, looking up at Ben with tears shining in his eyes.

"You're forgiven," Ben assured him and paused before adding "and it's over."

Paul nodded.

"All right, young fella, let's clear the table and see if I can beat you at checkers," Ben said, standing with a smile and picking up a couple of serving platters.

Paul sat in his place for a moment, picking at the button on his shirt.

"Paul, forgive yourself for this lapse," Ben said, setting down the platters and putting his hand on Paul's shoulder. "From this moment, vow to be a man and not run even when you want to."

"I don't know if I can, Mr. Cartwright," Paul said, looking up at him sadly.

"Of course you can, Paul. You're going to grow up to be a fine man and a man is made up of both his triumphs and his defeats and all the mistakes he makes along the way. I have confidence that while you might be tempted to run in the future, you're not going to because you're going to grow up to be a fine man like your father. I can see the makings of that man already," Ben squeezed his shoulder. "Now help me clear the table."

When the table was clear, Ben walked over and took a seat at the checkerboard.

"Come on, Paul, let's see if you can beat me," Ben said, waving him over.

"Really? My pa doesn't usually…" Paul said haltingly.

"What? Spend time with you after you've gotten in trouble?" Ben asked warmly.

Paul nodded.

"I think now is the most important time for us to spend time together," Ben said.

"Come on," he said as he motioned for Paul to come over.

"We need to spend time together so we can feel easy with each other again and so you know I'm not angry anymore. When I was growing up, I never knew when my pa was done being angry. I don't want you to have to guess. I'm done. Now, come play checkers," Ben said with a smile.

"Yes, Mr. Cartwright," Paul said with a smile. "Thanks," he said after a moment,

Ben just smiled and nodded.


	64. A Change of Heart

**I'm sorry you all had to wait so long for the latest chapter. I find the ideas are a bit slower in coming, so it takes a bit more time to write something I'm satisfied with. Thanks for sticking with me though!**

"Thank you, Lizzie," Adam said as he put down the lit lantern and took the guitar from her hands. "Once I get it tuned up, we'll see what you remember. What do you say?'

"All right," Lizzie said with a smile. She sat back on the bench and started swinging her legs, until her attention wandered over to the window of the house.

As Adam finished tuning the guitar, he looked up at Lizzie and saw her attention focused on the house. "Worried about Paul?"

"Do you think he's all right?" Lizzie asked, turning her attention towards him.

"I'm sure of it," Adam said. "I was in Paul's place plenty of times growing up and while it wasn't always comfortable, I always came out of it all right."

"Do you think Grandpa's punishing him?" Lizzie asked, turning her gaze back towards the house.

"Thankfully, I think the time for punishing is past, Lizzie," Adam said sitting back.

"It is?" Lizzie asked.

"Yes, your grandpa was pretty predictable when I was in trouble with him. He'd start off bellowing," Adam raised his eyebrow and smiled as Lizzie giggled. "But he got past that pretty quickly and would make me tell him why I thought he was angry with me. Then, if he was going to punish me it would happen right after my confession: extra chores; being sent to my room; a dreaded walk to the barn." Adam said wryly. "That was usually followed sooner or later by a talk about what I should do differently in the future and forgiveness. I think Paul and Pa are at the talking and forgiveness part."

"Are you sure?' Lizzie said, glancing quickly at the window and then back at him again.

"I'm positive, your Grandpa was always about getting to the talking and forgiving as soon as he thought he could. Paul seemed pretty contrite about what happened and that's what your grandpa was waiting for." Adam said and paused. "Feel better?"

"Yes," Lizzie said as Adam put the guitar into his lap.

"Good then let's see if we can stretch your fingers into a G chord, all right?"

Lizzie nodded and put her put her fingers on the strings.

"That's a hard one, Papa,"

"Yes, we may need to work on that one a while, but maybe if we do it a little each time, it'll get easier."

Lizzie nodded and bent her head over the neck of the guitar, moving the fingers of her left hand into place with her right.

Lizzie and Adam played a long time, pausing frequently and talking until Lizzie started to rub her fingers.

"My fingers are sore, Papa. I don't want to play anymore. Do you think we can go inside?"

Adam glanced at the window.

"Yes, I think we can probably go in now." Adam said, standing up.

As they walked in the door, Ben and Paul were playing checkers.

"Who's winning?" Adam asked as he leaned his guitar in the corner.

"Mr. Cartwright," Paul said with a frown. "Two games to one," he continued, rolling his eyes.

"It may be two games to one right now, but Paul has me on the ropes in this game," Ben said with a smile as he moved a checker. "How was the guitar lesson?"

"Good," Lizzie said, "but my fingers are sore."

"You'll have to build up some calluses so that it won't hurt so much to play," Ben said with a smile. "That'll come."

"Do you have calluses, Papa?" Lizzie asked turning towards him.

"I do," Adam said and held his hands out for her to see, "and not just on my finger tips."

"Do they hurt like mine?" Lizzie asked running her finger over his hands.

"They hurt a little bit to put them there, like your fingers hurt tonight, but they don't hurt any more."

Lizzie and Adam walked toward the fire and each picked up a book before settling down: Lizzie on the couch and Adam in the blue chair. After almost an hour, Lizzie was startled from her absorption in the stories of princesses and castles when her grandfather said,

"It's about time for you to be off to bed, Paul."

Adam looked up at the clock on the mantle and said, "I didn't realize it was getting so late, I think it's time for you to think about bed too, Lizzie."

"Just one more page, Papa?"

"One," Adam nodded holding up a single finger, "and then off to bed with you."

Paul stood and began loading the checkers into the box, stalling a bit and looking over at Lizzie.

"Paul," Ben said in a low voice, "head on up. I'll be up in a few minutes to say good night."

"Yes, Sir. Good night, Mr. Cartwright," Paul said and paused.

"Good night," he said tentatively, looking over at Adam and Lizzie.

"Good night, Paul," Adam said as he cocked an eyebrow at the boy. Then seeing Lizzie turn the page, he said, "That was one page, honey, the book will still be here tomorrow and waiting will make it even more fun to read."

"All right, Papa," Lizzie said with a sigh as she marked her place with a bookmark. "Good night, Grandpa," she said as she walked over to hug her grandfather.

"You two go on up. We'll be up in a minute," Ben said, catching Adam's eye. When the children had gone upstairs, Adam raised his eyebrows at Ben in a silent question.

"I think Paul wants to apologize to Lizzie for almost getting her in trouble with you. I thought it might be easier without us following them upstairs," Ben said quietly.

Adam frowned.

"Why does Paul feel the need to apologize?" Adam asked. "I was the one who jumped to conclusions about Lizzie and the fire."

"And if Paul had gotten help when the fire started, you would not have jumped to that conclusion," Ben said, and waved his hand as Adam started to speak, "in addition, this is not the first time that Paul has left Lizzie to face the music over something he had a hand in."

"Pa…"Adam started.

"No, Adam, in my opinion that boy needs to learn to stay and face things when he's done something wrong. He should have stayed during the cheating incident and he should have stayed after the fire. Do you disagree?" Ben asked.

"No…I don't disagree…I just think that the beatings Paul has taken at the hands of his father may have something to do with the running," Adam said as he scrubbed his face.

"I would tend to agree," Ben said, "but as hard as it is, I think that is a reason, not an excuse and I don't want it to be something Paul begins to rely on to justify his actions. There is right and there is wrong and Paul's leaving your daughter to face an angry parent or trouble at school alone when Paul is just as responsible or solely responsible is wrong."

Adam nodded, but rather than looking at his father, he stared into the fire.

Ben threw up his hands, "I had a strict father…you had a strict father. We both learned to not let fear of what that strict father would do when he found out what we had done keep us from doing the right thing. Didn't we?"

Ben waited quietly for an answer.

"Adam?" Ben said softly.

Adam took a deep breath and blew it out of his mouth, before looking up at his father, "Yes, Pa, we did, but I can remember a few times when fear or perhaps more accurately nerves almost won out over doing the right thing."

Ben chuckled, "Me too."

"And what that strict father did to me was never as bad as what my imagination had come up with, but Paul's Pa…" Adam shook his head and didn't finish the sentence.

"Yes, I know, but I am hoping that the way Paul's been treated by Dan is going to change and that his imagination will once again be worse than what his strict father does."

Adam nodded.

"And if it isn't, then I will step in to protect Paul, but I won't let him run from the consequences of his actions. I've really started to care about that boy and he needs to learn to be a man and face what he has coming…even if he's afraid." Ben said.

* * *

><p>"Lizzie," Paul said tentatively as they reached the top of the stairs and Lizzie turned to go into her bedroom.<p>

Lizzie turned back around and waited for him to speak.

"Mr. Cartwright said your papa thought you'd started the fire…" Paul said slowly.

Lizzie nodded.

"I'm sorry. If I hadn't run, he wouldn't have blamed you," Paul said blushing.

"He didn't blame me and when I told him I didn't do it, he believed me," Lizzie said.

"Yeah, but…I'm just sorry is all,"

"All right," Lizzie said, turning to go into her room.

"Do you hate me?" Paul asked.

"No," Lizzie said turning back to him, "but if that fire had burned the barn down, I could have lost Blaze and Lady and her kittens and all the other animals. You shouldn't have run away."

"I know," Paul said, "and I'm sorry I did. I wish I could go back and not run."

Lizzie nodded again. "Papa says you have to stay and face things, even when you're gonna get punished."

Paul nodded, "Mr. Cartwright said that too and so does my pa."

"Then how come you ran?"

"I was scared about what your pa and grandpa would do and I didn't want them to know I'd started the fire," Paul said and blushed.

"But Papa and Grandpa aren't mean," Lizzie protested.

"I know that now, but aren't you ever scared when you're in trouble with them?"

"Not scared…but I do get butterflies when I do something wrong," Lizzie said thoughtfully. "I'm sorry they scared you."

Paul nodded, "Mr. Cartwright made me promise I wouldn't run anymore."

"Grandpa makes me promise him things like that too," Lizzie said. "So does Papa."

"Will you still be my friend even after being blamed for the fire?' Paul finally asked.

"'Course," Lizzie said as she turned back to her room. "See you in the morning."

"Thanks, Lizzie," Paul said as he went into his own bedroom.

Adam and Ben who had been standing on the staircase smiled at each other and climbed the rest of the way up to go into Lizzie and Paul's rooms.

Adam eased himself into the rocking chair as he waited for Lizzie to come out from behind the screen. When she did, he asked, "So, do you want to read tonight or snuggle?"

"Read please," Lizzie said jumping onto the bed.

"All right read it is, what would you think about Pinocchio tonight?" Adam asked, getting up from the rocker and walking over to the bookcase. "It is all about forgiveness and fresh starts."

Adam walked over to the bed and drew the covers up over the head of a giggling Lizzie and then took a seat on the covers so she had to squirm out from under them.

"I hope you forgave Paul so he can make a fresh start," Adam said, kissing the top of her head.

"I did, Papa, he was afraid that I was mad at him cause you thought I had started the fire,"

"I'm sorry I jumped to that conclusion, Lizzie," Adam said kissing her head again.

"I know," she said with a smile as she snuggled down into the covers, "at least you believed me when I told you it wasn't me."

Adam arched an eyebrow at her and laughed. "Yes, Lizzie, at least I didn't make it worse by not believing you. Thank you sweet girl. Now let's start the story," he said as he settled back against the pillows.

In Paul's room, Paul was just crawling into bed as Ben came in. He stooped down to pick up the clothes that Paul had left on the floor and arched an eyebrow at him before placing them on the desk.

"Sorry," Paul said in an embarrassed voice.

"I'd like you to fold those clothes and put them away tomorrow morning," Ben said taking a seat on the bed next to Paul and winking at him.

"Yes, Sir," Paul said with a slight smile.

"I had a good time playing checkers with you tonight, thank you for playing with me," Ben said, taking a seat on the bed and picking up the jar of cream from the nightstand." Why don't you roll over and lets put some of this salve on your back."

Paul sighed but did as he was told.

Ben pulled up Paul's nightshirt and began to gently rub the salve into his back.

"How's it feeling, Paul? Your back's starting to heal. Does it still hurt?"

"Not so much anymore," Paul said. "It sort of hurts when you press on it, but I mostly can't feel it anymore."

"I'm trying to be gentle, Paul. I'm sorry my doctoring is hurting you," Ben said with a laugh as he pulled the nightshirt down over Paul's back and put the top back on the jar. "I guess it's a good thing I'm a rancher and not a doctor."

"No, it's all right Mr. Cartwright," Paul said turning over quickly. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." he said as he stood, blew out the kerosene lamp and moved towards the door. "I hope you sleep well."

"Mr. Cartwright?" Paul said.

"Yes, Paul?" Ben asked turning back towards the bed.

"Are you going to tell my pa about the fire?"

"Well, Paul, I consider that over and done with so I don't plan on telling your pa about it, but if he asks me a direct question, I won't lie."

"Yes, Sir," Paul said quietly.

"Do you think your pa needs to know?" Ben asked coming back through the darkness to sit on Paul's bed. "Do you think you need to tell him?"

"It sort of feels like lying if I don't tell him," Paul said, "but I don't want to get into trouble with him first thing back."

"Well, Paul, I reckon it's your story to tell or keep to yourself, but if you want to tell him, I'd be willing to stand beside you while you do," Ben said seriously.

"What about the running away part?" Paul asked in an embarrassed voice.

"Paul," Ben said softly, "I think that's the most important part of the story, don't you? Don't you think your pa needs to know you ran?"

There was a very long pause before Paul whispered, "Yes, Sir."

"Why do you think that's the most important part of the story?" Ben asked, reaching out to squeeze Paul's knee.

"Because if I didn't tell him that part it wouldn't be honest," Paul said slowly.

"True," Ben said nodding, "what else?"

Paul sighed. "Because…because, not telling him would be like running."

"Good boy," Ben said softly.

"And…and a man's supposed to admit when he's done something wrong and face the consequences." Paul said, struggling with his thoughts.

"Yes, he is, son," Ben said patting his knee and nodding.

"It's going to be awful hard though," Paul said roughly pulling the pillows from behind his back and throwing himself down on to them.

"That's why it takes a man to do it," Ben said as he stood, reached down and pulled the covers up over Paul. "A boy's usually gonna take the easy route if given the chance, but a man's going to do what's right even if it's hard and even if it costs him and when I say man, I'm not talking about age, Paul, a ten year old can act like a man just as much as a forty year old can. Think you can do it?"

"Yes, Sir," Paul sighed.

"Being a man's not always easy," Ben said with a slight grin, crossing his arms over his chest "and it sometimes means your pride's going to suffer a bit, but running steals your self respect entirely and that is a much worse fate. You're man enough to do the right thing." Ben said with conviction before leaving the room, pulling the door closed behind him.

"I sure hope so," Paul whispered.

* * *

><p>The next day, the buggy pulled up in front of the school and Adam saw John and Sally start towards them.<p>

"Good morning," John called as he guided Sally towards them, keeping a light hand on her shoulder.

"Good morning," Adam and Hoss called back.

John squeezed Sally's shoulder and took a step back.

"Lizzie, Papa says I have to accept your apology," Sally started in a halting voice.

John opened his mouth to speak and started to step forward, but stopped when he saw the quick shake of Adam's head.

Lizzie looked at Sally, shrugged and said. "Don't care if you do. Don't care if you don't"

"I mean I want to apologize for not accepting your apology," Sally tried again. "I know you weren't trying to say mean things to me and I'm sorry and I want to be your friend."

"Friends don't make friends apologize over and over," Lizzie said with a frown.

"I know," Sally said as a tear rolled down her cheek, "I won't do it again, no matter how mean you are to me."

"If we're friends, I'm not going to be mean to you on purpose and if I'm mean to you on accident, you gotta let me say sorry and not be mean to me." Lizzie said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I will," Sally said, staring at the dirt.

"Promise?" Lizzie asked.

"I promise." Sally said.

"All right," Lizzie said. "I forgive you for not accepting my apology and we can be friends. Come on," she said as she jumped out of the wagon. "I'll race you to the lunch tree."

Sally grinned and hugging her father's legs quickly, she ran after her.

"See you after school," Adam called.

"Bye, Papa," Lizzie called. "Bye Uncle Hoss. Bye Dr. Fellows"

"Girls!" Paul said as he rolled his eyes and got down out of the buggy. "See ya!" He said as he ran to join his friends.

John stepped up and leaned against the buggy, "Well, that went considerably better than I thought it would."

Adam laughed.

"What brought about the change of heart? She was slamming doors yesterday and today she was wanting to be friends." Adam asked seriously.

"Well, right after you left, I told Sally that she had to accept Lizzie's apology even if she didn't want to be Lizzie's friend. Which she told me emphatically that she didn't," John laughed. "Apparently she reconsidered things, because by the time I came home late last night, she was asking if I was angry with her for not wanting to forgive Lizzie and be her friend and if I thought Lizzie would even want to be her friend after the way Sally had treated her."

Adam smiled and Hoss laughed out loud.

"What?" John asked in a puzzled voice.

"Sally has come a long way in the few weeks she has been with you," Hoss said with a smile. "I don't recall a time Sally was worried about someone being angry with her for something she had done before she had gotten punished for it."

"What my brother means," Adam said when he saw John's frown "is that Sally wants to please you and she isn't doing it because you're going to punish her. That should make you proud of the effect you're having in her life. It's a lot easier to have a child mind you because she wants to rather than obeying because she's worried about what will happen if she doesn't. It's a fine thing to have a child trust you enough to do as you ask."

"I hope you're right and it sticks," John said as he shook his head and folded his arms across his chest. "I'm glad you raised such a easy going daughter, although I was a bit worried she would be forgiving what with the rocky start Sally made today."

"I'm glad you stayed back and let them figure it out," Adam said sitting back in the seat, crossing his arms across his chest and staring off at the girls sitting under their lunch tree.

John nodded, "I really wanted to step in."

"I've found that when you let children figure it out for themselves it has more staying power," Adam said with a smile. "Whatever they figure out is usually better than what we adults can impose on them."

"I sure am glad those gals made up," Hoss said jovially. "It's going to make Sunday dinner a lot better."

John laughed as he walked away, "You're right Hoss. See you on Sunday."

"Looking forward to it," Hoss said as he clucked to the horses.

John returned Adam's wave as they rode past and he made his way to the office. He smiled as he thought about how the apology had gone and he smiled even wider as he thought about what Adam has said about Sally minding him and trusting him.

"It sure beats the hell out of having to spank her," he whispered to himself and grinned as he walked into his office to begin his day.


End file.
